Uber, Lyft say they will halt rides in California unless appeals court steps in - California Homeowners AssociationCalifornia Homeowners Association

By Cyrus Farivar at NBC News

August 19, 2020

OAKLAND, Calif. — Uber and Lyft say that unless a state appeals court decides to intervene Thursday, they will shut down their passenger services across California for at least several months if not more than a year.

The companies say it is practically impossible for them to comply with a San Francisco judge’s order last week that said they had violated a new state law known as AB5 and had misclassified hundreds of thousands of their drivers as contractors rather than employees.

San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman found an “overwhelming likelihood” that Uber and Lyft had misclassified their drivers. He issued a preliminary injunction ordering the companies to halt the practice, which saves the companies millions of dollars a year because they do not have to pay into benefits programs, including unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation.