Uber has agreed to pay more than $3.4 million to 15,000 drivers after not adhering properly to Seattle’s paid sick leave law covering gig workers.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, the Seattle City Council last year temporarily extended sick and safe leave protections to gig workers in response to the pandemic, the only city with such a provision for independent contractors.
As a result, workers were allowed to accrue and take paid days off to lessen the strain to keep working and potentially keep spreading the virus.
The days can be used for other needs as well, such as to seek help in domestic violence cases or to care for children whose schools were closed because of the pandemic.
But according to Seattle's Office of Labor Standards, Uber drivers complained that they were not receiving the required benefit.
The office revealed that Uber conducted several audits and discovered a variety of technical errors that prevented some drivers from being able to access their paid-time-off on the app, such as some had time-off requests inadvertently canceled, some had incorrect time-off balances in their accounts, and some had been required to wait until the day after their time-off request to take it.
Uber fixed the problems and the agreement includes nearly $1.3 million in back pay, interest, damages and civil penalties for 2,329 workers, as well as nearly $2.2 million in advance payment of unused paid time off to 15,084 workers.
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