Washington State Sets Minimum Pay for Uber, Lyft

Washington has become the first U.S. state to set earnings standards for ride-hailing companies after Governor Jay Inslee signed into law a minimum pay standard for Lyft and Uber drivers.

As Reuters reported Friday (April 1), the law — signed Thursday (March 31) — said Uber and Lyft drivers in Washington will earn a minimum of $1.17 per mile and 34 cents per minute with minimum pay of $3 for each trip.

But while the law also gives drivers things like paid sick time, family medical leave, long-term care programs and workers’ compensation, it also bans local governments from imposing additional requirements for the ride-hailing companies and said that the drivers are not employees, a sore point between labor groups and gig economy giants.

Read more: EU Gig Workers Could Be Reclassified as Employees

The law does not affect a measure passed in Seattle in 2020 that gives drivers a minimum pay of $1.38 per mile, 59 cents per minute and a per-trip minimum of $5.17.

Reuters noted that the law was supported by Uber and Lyft.

“This new law decisively gives drivers what they want — to stay independent while gaining historic new benefits and protections,” Uber’s head of public policy in the Western U.S., Ramona Prieto, said in a statement.

Prieto said Uber hoped the law could be replicated in other cities, states and countries.

“Drivers achieved this win because labor organizations, legislators and app-based companies listened to them, and then worked together to drive a historic bill that works for them,” Lyft’s head of government relations, Jen Hensley, said in a statement.

Reuters said the law was backed by the Teamsters union Local 117, which had also fought for the Seattle pay standard.

See also: Uber Announces Seattle Price Hike To Meet Minimum Wage Law

Uber has fought a number of legal battles over the status of its drivers, including one in California, where a state law will require drivers to be classified as employees. Ride-hailing and delivery companies sought to get around this law with a measure called Proposition 22, only to have it overturned in court.

There’s also a proposed rule change in the European Union that could reclassify delivery drivers as employees, and require that digital platforms give up some control over workers to make them truly self-employed. If approved, this measure could cost the industry up to $5.1 billion and affect about 4.1 million workers.