JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A decision from the governor of Florida Thursday night said Uber drivers should be considered independent contractors instead of company employees, according to a news release.
The release states that Uber drivers should not be eligible for unemployment insurance in Florida as a result.
A 26-page order released Thursday, state Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Jesse Panuccio, gives several examples of Uber’s business model -- such as drivers using their own vehicles and deciding their own hours.
The order says in part: “As a matter of common sense, it is hard to imagine many employers who would grant this level of autonomy to employees --- permitting work whenever the employee has a whim to work, demanding no particular work be done at all even if customers will go unserved.”
Uber released a statement Thursday in response to the order.
"This decision recognizes that Uber's partners are independent contractors who use Uber on their own terms; they control their use of the app, deciding when and for how long they drive, and whether they drive at all,'' the statement said. "Nearly 90 percent of drivers say the main reason they use Uber is because they love being their own boss."
The order was released a day after a state House subcommittee approved a bill (HB 509) that would prevent local governments from regulating Uber and other app-based transportation services.
The Florida order stemmed from unemployment claims filed in April by two former Uber drivers.
The order indicates the state Department of Revenue in May issued findings that the two former drivers had been employees of Uber. That led the company to file a protest with the Department of Economic Opportunity, which handles appeals of such issues.
Panuccio's order reversed the findings of the Department of Revenue.
Other states have had disagreements on the same issue that Florida clarified with Thursday's order. Both California and Oregon officials have recently said Uber drivers should be considered employees of the company.
"Courts have found this factor particularly compelling. … Uber provides transportation services to its customers, services it cannot provide without its drivers. As such the driver's work is not only integral but, a necessary part of Uber's business. This indicates an employment relationship," said an Oct. 14 advisory opinion issued by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.
WJAX
