COMP NEWS – Uber drivers are expressing frustration after they learned that they may have been misled by their employer concerning compensation claims for missing holiday pay.

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.

That average, however, pales in comparison to that of the Uber drivers who settled their compensation claims through lawyers. Many Uber drivers received more than 10 times the average settlement than those who proceeded without lawyers.

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.

Some drivers feel that Uber deliberately misled them regarding details of making a wage claim with the company.

One driver who accepted just under £4,000 last year, having worked about 60 hours a week for Uber for most of the seven years he was a regular for the app, said: “Everyone is feeling really angry about it.

“It was during the pandemic. I had no money coming in and I thought this is the best we are going to get. They misled us and told us this was the best we would get and it was calculated properly and talking to a lawyer would make no difference except they would deduct commission.

“Drivers have clearly been shafted. They didn’t know about it and Uber took advantage of Uber drivers because they did not [understand] the law. Everyone is fuming.”

To read more about Uber drivers and their recent compensation claims, click here.

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