Federal Judge Rules New York State Must Provide Uber and Lyft Drivers with Unemployment Benefits

The court has ruled that New York State must provide unemployment benefits to Uber and Lyft drivers because, while they are independent workers as opposed to traditional employees, they too have suffered financially since the coronavirus.

The Department of Labor has seven days to begin processing backlogged claims and an additional 45 days to resolve it and make payments.

The Executive Director Bhairavi Desai, of the New York Taxi  Alliance, says, “For the first time we see a definitive decision that puts the drivers first and recognizes the deep injustice which was entirely avoidable." 

"And at the very hands of a government that was supposed to protect us from a deadly virus and deadly poverty and they failed us at every level," Desai continued.