56% of Drivers Liked Uber Class Action Ruling, but only 16% would be Eligible
I sent out a survey shortly after the class action ruling (you can still participate with this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5Z8JBTG) asking various questions and over 100 drivers responded to the survey. Here were the results:
About 85% of drivers surveyed was still driving for Uber.
Only a handful had quit Uber (a better breakdown in the next question). This question doesn’t show that there are much higher percentage of active drivers on Uber, but shows the demographics of drivers in this survey. It is important in terms of the class action ruling.
Only 4% of drivers would be eligible for this lawsuit if every driver did not opt out of arbitration:
According to Uber’s response to the lawsuit, if everyone did not opt out of arbitration, then only a very small fraction of drivers would be eligible for the lawsuit.
Here is a bit more background on who is eligible for the lawsuit from Uber’s response to the lawsuit:
Only a few hundred drivers who are actively driving with Uber today can now be part of this case. This is because the ruling found that only drivers who either stopped driving before June 2014 or drove after June 2014 but chose to opt out of the arbitration option in their agreements, are eligible.
According to this survey, only 4% of drivers would be eligible as that is the percentage of drivers who stopped driving on/before June 2014. However, with the high percentage of active drivers on this survey, I would believe the number of drivers would be higher.
If the general statistic of 50% of Uber drivers quit, and 4/14 of drivers who used to drive for Uber are eligible for the lawsuit, then you can argue that 14% of all Uber drivers in California (assuming this survey is representative of Uber drivers in California) are eligible for the lawsuit solely based on the fact that they had quit before June 2014.
56% of drivers liked the class action ruling:
56% of drivers liked the ruling. There was a wide range of responses from drivers from them wanting to stay independent contractors to wanting more benefits and cost reimbursement from Uber. A majority of drivers cited that if there is a settlement from Uber that they wanted compensation for maintenance, gas and other expenses, similar to what employees would get.
A similar percentage of drivers (53%) wanted to be included in the class action lawsuit:
55% of drivers want to be Independent Contractors:
Many drivers want the flexibility to drive whenever they want. But there are many other drivers who want reimbursement for costs for driving for Uber, health insurance, worker’s compensation, and other benefits that employees normally get. Similar evidence has been presented to the court in this lawsuit but the judge ruled that these problems still apply to many drivers.
Arbitration
I knew that this would be a huge issue when the ruling for the class action lawsuit was handed down and Uber confirmed that in their response. They said that anyone who did not opt out would be ineligible for the lawsuit, which could have been a large number of drivers. They estimated that only 10% of drivers are eligible for the class action lawsuit. My survey confirms similar percentages.
68% of drivers weren’t aware of the arbitration clause in the agreement
After screwing up the arbitration clause in the original 2013 agreement, they updated the agreement in June 2014 that more clearly spells out the arbitration agreement. Any driver after June 2014 who accepted the agreement but did not opt out of the arbitration clause would not be eligible for this class action lawsuit. This is a huge blow to the class action lawsuit and these survey results confirm that:
85% of drivers did not opt out of the arbitration clause:
Also, two of the four drivers who have stopped driving for Uber by June 2014 did not opt out of the arbitration clause so that puts the percentage of drivers who are eligible for the class action lawsuit to be about 16.66%. Uber themselves have claimed this number to be about 10% so this survey isn’t too far off from their own numbers. Hopefully this survey shows how they came about that number and also driver sentiment in regards to this long debate about independent contractor and employee status.
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