Tech giant Uber has been ordered to pay the lost wages of an Adelaide driver who was unfairly kicked off the app, in an Australian-first decision hailed as a “watershed” moment for gig economy workers.
The federal government introduced deactivation laws earlier this year, providing protection to “employee-like workers” who have worked regularly for at least six months on a digital platform such as Uber.
In the first unfair deactivation case to proceed to hearing, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has found that an Australian Uber driver’s deactivation from the app was “plainly unfair” and that Uber must pay the driver’s lost wages during the two months he was blocked from using the platform.
Driver takes action
The case was brought by Mohammad Shareef Hotak, who worked as an Uber driver for four-and-a-half years and drove about 40 to 60 hours per week.
In late March this year, Hotak picked up a rider and two guests in Adelaide.
According to Hotak’s statement to the FWC, after he told the riders to stop using drugs in his car and asked them to leave, they assaulted him before exiting the car.
The rider later alleged that Hotak had threatened them with a baseball bat, something the Uber driver denied.
Soon after, Hotak was deactivated from the Uber app, and he commenced an unfair deactivation case the next day, represented by the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU).
In mid-May, after the unfair deactivation proceedings were brought forward, Uber voluntarily reactivated Hotak’s account, allowing him to start driving again, which he did.
Hotak asked passengers to stop using drugs in his car. Photo: Shutterstock
Because of this, the tech giant argued that the unfair deactivation case should be dismissed, and that it should not be required to provide backpay.
But FWC deputy president Tony Saunders said that this would “produce unjust consequences” and would allow Uber to just reactivate a driver and then “deny meaningful redress for unfair deactivation”.
The commission found that there was “no valid reason” for Hotak’s deactivation, and that this had a “significant” impact on him, personally and financially.
“Given that Mr Hotak has suffered a financial loss as a consequence of being unfairly deactivated, we consider it appropriate to make an order to require Uber to pay Mr Hotak an amount for the remuneration lost because of the deactivation,” Saunders said in the ruling.
The amount to be provided to Hotak in backpay will be calculated using an average of his weekly earnings in the lead up to his deactivation, deducting some expenses he has not had to pay such as fuel and tolls.
The two parties have been ordered to confer and reach an agreement on this amount by 8 October.
A watershed moment
The landmark decision gives “hope for tens of thousands of gig workers that they can stand up against some of the biggest global tech behemoths and win”, TWU Secretary Michael Kaine said.
“This FWC decision is a blow to Uber’s entire business model of deactivating workers with no evidence and no regard for the impact it will have on their lives,” Kaine said.
Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus said it was a “watershed moment for gig economy workers and the union movement”.
“This victory is only possible because union members campaigned and won world-first gig worker protections under the Albanese government’s new laws,” McManus said.
“For too long, the livelihoods of workers and their families were devastated by unfair deactivation by powerful multinational companies like Uber.
“The FWC’s ruling makes clear that gig workers now have enforceable rights, and that companies must respect them or be held to account.”
In a statement, Hotak said that his main message to other Uber drivers who may have been unfairly deactivated is that they are not alone.
“I know how stressful and frightening it feels when your income is suddenly cut off,” Hotak said.
“But we have rights. Reach out to your union, speak up and don’t be afraid to challenge Uber’s unfairness.
“Together we are stronger, and we can fight and win our dignity back.”
