Uber Drivers vs. Uber: Lawsuit Reveals Lack of Employment Relationship

2023-06-22 21:44:14

Highlighted basis: FOURTEENTH: That ultimately, with the evidence assessed, in accordance with the rules of sound criticism, it is then concluded that, in these contractual relationships, in the judgment of this Sentencing Party, there are no manifestations of the bond of subordination and dependency, such as the existence of compulsory and controlled working days, remuneration, command and direction power, continuity over time and exclusivity in the work, since these so-called “Collaborators” acted with the most absolute freedom of action, according to their availability, being perfectly able to refuse to make trips, not connecting for months and without being subject to formal disciplinary powers for it, which obviously prevents the origin of a fixed salary, receiving payment directly from the passenger, in cash or through Uber , as a collection agent, with a bank card, which do not constitute consideration, being able to also provide services for other platforms, receiving other income and not receiving instructions for transfers, since the routes were chosen by the passengers, who qualified them, all which is not consistent at all with an employment contract.

Indeed, as has already been reasoned above and, specifically, it can be concluded, with the evidence that has been weighed, that the actors freely decided the days and hours to perform the service, without the application of any sanction for it. , that is, without a penalty for not having connected daily, weekly or monthly, without having, consequently, the burden of connecting to the platform for a certain time, also having all of them to stick to what is instructed by the user and not by the company, in relation to the route to follow and, being evaluated by the clients themselves, with incentives, but with the aim of obtaining more profits, because it is ultimately a business, not being strictly performance evaluations and, receiving payments directly from the passenger or through the company, as a collection agent, without paying the latter a consideration in money, having to add other circumstances, such as the absolute absence of work tools (Delivery of vehicles, of uniforms, fuel and cell phone), the non-requirement to stay in a certain place, the one who is chosen, according to the greatest demand that exists in a place and, the possibility of being hired by other platforms, without imposition of some limit or restriction to this total freedom.

VALPARAISO,

APRIL TWENTY-SEVENTH TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-THREE.

SEEN, HEARD OF THE PARTICIPANTS AND CONSIDERING:

FIRST: That, before the Labor Court of Valparaíso, Mr. JAIME BARRIENTOS RAMÍREZ, Lawyer, domiciled at Calle Diego Portales No. 33, office No. 213, Edificio Milano, Reñaca, Viña del Mar, appears, who deduces the demand for a declaration of unity economic and collection of labor benefits in favor of Mr. RODRIGO FABIÁN CABRERA SANTANA; GERMAN RODRIGO ALFARO BITTNER; Mr. SERGIO ANTONIO RAMÍREZ REVECO; Mr. PABLO CESAR PEREZ NAVARRO; Mr. FRANCISCO JAVIER VIGORENA QUIROZ; Mr. JOSÉ MANUEL VALENZUELA GUTIERREZ; Mr. HUGO ANDRÉS PAREDES VENEGAS; CHRISTIAN ENRIQUE TAPIA HERRERA; Mr. HUGO FABIÁN CABRERA ALCAYAGA; Mr. JORGE ANDRÉS MUÑOZ GÓMEZ; Mr. JOHN ERIC ZAVALA NAVARRETE; Mr. DANIEL ALEJANDRO HUERTA CORDERO; Mrs. PATRICIA DAISY PAVEZ CÁCERES; Mr. PATRICIO DANILO QUEZADA ZÚÑIGA; Mr. RODOLFO EDUARDO MATURANA SUÁREZ; gift 1 CARLOS DAVID FARIAS RIVERO; Mr. RODRIGO ANDRÉS VALENCIA RODRIGUEZ; Mr. MANUEL ISRAEL MARCHANT PÉREZ; Mr. MAURICIO ANTONIO ABARCA BÓRQUEZ; Mr. LEONARDO JOSÉ MEDONE VERGARA; CLAUDIO RODRIGO HERNANDEZ GODOY; MR. JOHN ALEXANDER ZEGERS SILVA; Mr. FRANCISCO JAVIER FLORES VARGAS; ANDRES EDMUNDO MARAMBIO FIGUEROA; Mr. RAFAEL ADRIÁN MANSILLA MANSILLA; JOSE ANTONIO OLIVARES ROJAS; GERMAN ANDRÉS GONZÁLEZ ESCOBAR; Mr. EZEQUIEL ENRIQUE FUENTES SOTO; Mr. ANDRES ALEXIS MENA PIZARRO; Mrs. MARÍA SOLEDAD ÁVILA CARVAJAL; Mr. DANIEL ANDRES URRUTIA VARGAS; JOSE MIGUEL TAPIA LIRA; Mr. RODOLFO IGNACIO CABRERA FERNANDEZ; Mr. ANDRES RODRIGO ARANCIBIA FIGUEROA; Mr. LUIS HERNÁN ALVAREZ URIZAR; Mr. MICHAEL IAN PURCELL FLORES; Mr. JAVIER ALEJANDRO HERNÁNDEZ PALACIOS; Mr. NICOLÁS DAVID RAMÍREZ FIGUEROA; Mr. CÉSAR ANTONIO RAMÍREZ ALMONACID; Mrs. ANDREA PATRICIA REBOLLEDO PEÑALOZA; Mr. MARCELO HERNÁN ESCUDERO FUENTES; Mr. DANIEL ORLANDO NEGRÍN VALLADARES; Mr. DANIEL ALEJANDRO CATALDO HURTUBIA; CATALINA VICTORIA SILVA ÁVALOS; CHRISTOPHER MATÍAS MARTÍNEZ PERALTA; Mr. LUIS ALONSO PALLACÁN PEREZ; Mr. JOSÉ CLAUDIO CARMONA ALEGRÍA; Mr. DANIEL ALEJANDRO SEPÚLVEDA ROMERO; Mr. LUCIANO ZELADA MORALES; Mrs. LOLEEN ANDRÉA GARCÍA ALVAREZ; and Mr. RICARDO VALENTINO OLMOS MONTIEL, all Uber drivers and domiciled for this sole purpose at his home; and, against HINTER CHILE SPA, joint stock company, domiciled at calle Monjitas 744, department 2617, commune and city of Santiago, represented by its general manager, Mr. MARCO NANNIPIERI, of the same domicile, UBER PORTIER CHILE SPA, joint stock company , with the same domicile and represented by the same general manager, Mr. MARCO NANNIPIERI, UBER CHILE SPA, joint-stock company, domiciled at Apoquindo 3721 street, office 131, represented by its general manager, Mr. ALBERTO VIGNAU LEHMANN, of the same domicile, and UBER INTERNATIONAL HOLDING BV, AGENCIA EN CHILE, a public limited company incorporated in the Netherlands, with the same domicile and general manager mentioned above, for the following factual and legal grounds:

He points out that the Uber system is managed by an economic unit made up of more than 100 company names throughout the globe, whose parent company is Uber Technologies Inc. He says that, as stated in the document called “Revolving Credit Agreement”, point 3.13, “Subsidiaries” (in English), which corresponds to an official document requested by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Uber 1 Technologies Inc. controlled a list of more than 100 company names as of June 4 ”Revolving Credit Agreement among Uber Technologies, Inc. as the Borrower; the Lenders party 1 hereto, and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc. as the Administrative Agent; Barclays Bank PLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., as Joint Lead Arrangers; Barclays Bank PLC, Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman Sachs Lending Partners LLC, JP Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding Inc., as Joint Bookrunners”, Schedule 3.13, Subsidiaries, “Active entities as of June 4, 2018”.

It can be consulted on 3 of 2018, among which are Besitz Ein BV, Rasier Operations BV, Uber Portier BV, Uber Chile SpA, Uber International Holding BV and several companies named Hinter, which are:

Hinter Bolivia SRL, Hinter El Salvador SA de CV, Hinter France SAS, Hinter Jamaica Limited, Hinter Nicaragua SA, Hinter Paraguay SA, Hinter Servicios de Soporte SA de CV (México), Hinter Technology Support Services Costa Rica SRL, Hinter-IL LLC , Hinter Italy SRL y Hinter-NM LLC.

Notes that, as stated in the extract published in the Official Gazette on October 7, 2019 and, supplemented on December 6, 2020, by public deed dated October 2, 2019, the company Hinter Chile SpA was incorporated by Mr. Matías Zegers Ruiz-Tagle, who acted on behalf of “Besitz Ein BV, a company incorporated and existing under the laws of the Netherlands”. ́

Along with this, it says that, as stated in the extract published in the Official Gazette on July 13, 2020, the same lawyer established Uber Portier Chile SpA acting on behalf of “the company Uber Portier BV, a company incorporated and existing under the laws of the Netherlands” ́ , by means of a public deed signed on July 7 of that year. As can be seen, Hinter Chile SpA, Uber Portier Chile SpA, Uber Chile SpA and Uber International Holding BVa are four company names that have the same controller, Uber Technologies Inc. He explains that this company has, through intermediaries, ownership of all of them , as well as the foreign companies Besitz Ein BV and Rasier Operations BV; he directs and controls them at will.

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