Lyft Inc. was sued by a former driver for not providing the paid sick days required by Washington, D.C., law, the latest challenge to the stance by ride-hail platforms that their drivers aren’t employees.
By violating the sick leave law during the coronavirus pandemic, “Lyft forces its drivers into a Hobbesian choice: risk their lives (and the lives of their passengers) or risk their livelihoods,” according to the complaint, filed Friday in federal court on behalf of a class of current and former drivers.
The central claim is that drivers, who are integral to Lyft’s business and subject to its control over how they perform it, are employees entitled to the protections of the District of Columbia’s local sick leave law, not contractors as the company argues.
