Days after the Brazilian Supreme Court confirmed that an appeal that discusses the employment relationship between drivers and Uber will serve as a landmark case on which all similar future cases must be based, the company filed a petition asking the court to suspend all pending cases nationwide.
It was already expected that cases in local courts would be on hold until a decision by the top court in the land, but the company is asking for this to be done formally.
In the petition filed by Uber, the platform’s lawyers say that more than 17,000 cases are asking for the recognition of employment relationships between drivers and couriers and delivery apps, according to data from the Attorney General’s Office. In the petition, Uber also argues that the employment relationship “is incompatible with its business model.”
According to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), there are more than 1.7 million self-employed transportation workers in Brazil. This includes couriers, taxi drivers, and app drivers, among others.
Courts have been inconsistent in interpreting how labor regulations apply to gig workers. Labor judges have tended to side with workers, although most court decisions have favored companies. Justice Edson Fachin, who is overseeing the case at the Supreme Court, said a definitive position is important to reduce legal uncertainty.
On the workers’ side, it does not seem to be in the majority’s interest to have an employment relationship.
A survey by renowned pollster Datafolha carried out last year with 2,800 gig workers and commissioned by Uber and iFood, Brazil’s biggest delivery app, the survey found that 75 percent of app drivers and 77 percent of delivery couriers would prefer to maintain their current relationship with platforms, which see them as autonomous contractors, rather than have a formal work bond with them as an employee.
This week, President Luiz Inácio Lula Silva sent a bill to Congress that treats app drivers as autonomous contractors and guarantees a minimum payment alongside social rights.
The companies would have to pay 7.5 percent in social security contributions for the workers and ensure that they earn at least the minimum wage.
However, this consensus, reached after many meetings between the government and company representatives, does not affect delivery drivers, only those who work on ride-hailing apps.
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