Supreme Court Rules Against Uber in $400M Class Action, Delivers Historic Win for Employees

TORONTO, June 26, 2020 /CNW/ – Today, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a historical decision on a class action lawsuit against Uber that preserves employee rights across the country.

The court found that, in the case of Heller v. Uber Technologies Inc., the $400 million lawsuit must be heard in Ontario, and not through international arbitration in the Netherlands as proposed by Uber.

“The Supreme Court of Canada’s message is very clear: if you wish to operate in this country, you have to be prepared to abide by the laws of Canada and adhere to the jurisdiction of its courts,” said Toronto employment lawyer Lior Samfiru of Samfiru Tumarkin LLP, who commenced the class action in 2017 on behalf of Uber drivers.

The lawsuit alleges that the drivers were employees at law, that they were misclassified as independent contractors by Uber, and were therefore owed various entitlements under Ontario and Canadian employment laws.

The issue before The Supreme Court of Canada was whether Uber was able to require its drivers to arbitrate any and all disputes in the Netherlands. Upon signing up with Uber, drivers were required to sign a document purporting to require them to raise any dispute with Uber before an international arbitration in Amsterdam. Uber, therefore, tried to have the lawsuit dismissed saying the drivers cannot proceed with legal action in Canada but must file individual arbitrations in a foreign country.

The concern with Uber’s position was that, if a company can require its workers to only raise dispute in a foreign jurisdiction, no worker would actually take such a step, which would allow a company to do whatever it wanted, without repercussions.

“A win for Uber would have effectively ended employee rights in this country,” said Samfiru, who represents Heller along with co-counsel at Wright Henry LLP. “The Supreme Court of Canada was well aware of this issue and determined that a company operating in Canada must abide by Canadians laws and cannot eliminate employee rights by imposing the laws of a foreign jurisdiction.”

The Supreme Court reiterated that employees and all workers continue to have access to legal tribunals and Canadian courts in order to enforce their rights.

“After all, all the legal rights in the world are of no value if there is no way to enforce them. For a company to try to require employees to give up the laws of Canada is unconscionable and offends our sense of fairness and common sense,” said Samfiru.

Uber now will have to address the claims of the drivers that they are employees and have been misclassified for many years.

Read the Supreme Court of Canada’s momentous decision on Heller v. Uber Technologies Inc.

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