Uber's settlement flop reignites potentially costly driver lawsuits

San Francisco

A SAN Francisco federal court's rejection of a US$100 million settlement with drivers comes with plenty of silver linings for Uber Technologies Inc. The grey cloud for the ride-hailing company is that a dozen or so lawsuits that would have been silenced may now roll back in.

The judge on Thursday ruled that the deal was unfair in large part because it undervalued potential labour code violations under California's unique bounty-hunter law, known as PAGA. The settlement sought to sweep under the rug lawsuits with potentially billions of dollars in claims under the law, which gives workers the right to step into the shoes of the state labour secretary to bring enforcement actions.