Time’s Up on Uber-Lyft ‘Evil,’ California’s Top Cop Tells Court
- State attorney general urges appeals court not to pause ruling
- Conpanies say they would be forced to shut down in home state
Photographer: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
California doubled down on its demand that Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. make immediate, wrenching changes to their business models in their home state by converting their drivers from independent contractors to employees with benefits.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked a state appeals court Wednesday to ignore the companies’ pleas to extend a pause on a lower court’s order requiring the dramatic shift. A stay of the decision is set to expire midnight Thursday. If the appeals court agrees with Becerra or takes no action, Uber and Lyft have said the order will force them to suspend ride-share operations in their home state starting Friday.
Read More: Uber Seeks Court Reprieve After California Shutdown Threat
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman said in his Aug. 10 order that Uber and Lyft are “not entitled to an indefinite postponement of their day of reckoning.” The judge ruled the companies are violating Assembly Bill 5, or A.B. 5, the year-old California law requiring them to provide their hundreds of thousands of drivers in the state with benefits including health insurance and overtime that could cost billions of dollars.