Uber Faces New Legal Challenge over Driver Pay

WIE charges Uber with breaching the law of data protection by using AI-based payrolls that apparently decrease earnings and equity for drivers.

The issue surrounding Uber is new, with Worker Info Exchange (WIE) releasing a formal letter to claim that Uber breached the European data protection law by applying AI to change driver payment rates. WIE states that Uber's algorithm-based system reduces the income of drivers and can violate GDPR legislation as it uses personal data to train its algorithms.

The legal case, set to be presented to the court in Amsterdam, was based on the cooperation between WIE and Oxford University, whose study revealed that driver earnings significantly decreased after Uber launched its dynamic pricing algorithm in 2023. It is indicated in the report that driver remuneration remained unchanged or even declined in real terms, which provokes issues of transparency and equality in the current legislation.

WIE recommends that technology be based on the past history of drivers with insufficient consent or supervision. It claims that drivers have a right to order Uber to stop such practices, implement open human-monitored compensation systems, and pay damages to workers according to the collective redress law in the Netherlands.

Uber has refuted the claims, saying that the study was selective and did not even establish that dynamic pricing was the direct cause of reduced earnings. The company also has its platform; it is flexible with well-known trip details and high driver demand.

Failure by Uber to meet the requirements of WIE will result in the foundation undertaking a joint venture to bring a case to the Amsterdam district court, which would possibly become one of the major test cases of AI, labor rights, and digital labor law enforcement in Europe.