Uber drivers’ anger over compensation for missed holiday pay

theguardian.com:

Uber drivers say they feel “misled” and “shafted” after it emerged that they have been paid up to 10 times less compensation for missed holiday pay than those who hired lawyers to take action against the company.

Drivers won payouts after the supreme court in February last year endorsed a landmark employment tribunal ruling that Uber drivers should be classed as workers with access to the minimum wage and paid holidays.

Uber set up an online portal in March 2021 through which it said drivers could claim compensation for holiday pay directly “without lengthy court proceedings”.

It is understood that 54,000 claimants – an estimated 80% of all eligible Uber drivers – have so far received payments via the portal, averaging £2,700.

The portal, which was open until July 2021, promised compensation for “historical trips” to drivers it deemed eligible, and those who applied direct also had the benefit of being offered cash within weeks.

Meanwhile, at least 15,000 opted to settle via lawyers, and they had to wait about a year for payouts to be agreed and awarded.

Now that the majority of drivers have been informed of their payouts, comparisons can be made. It has emerged that those who settled via their lawyers received many times more – in some cases over 10 times the average for those who used the portal.

The Guardian has seen details of one payout from a legal settlement which totalled over £45,000 – after legal fees of more than £10,000. One driver is understood to have decided to turn down an offer of about £3,000 via the Uber portal and continued with his legal claim, through which he received about £30,000. The negotiations were led by law firms Leigh Day and Keller Lenkner, with a number of other firms joining the litigation.