Employers such as Uber and Lyft want their business models preserved by labeling workers as independent contractors. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By Lisa Kashinsky and Eleanor Mueller
06/15/2022 05:01 AM EDT
BOSTON — The top court in Massachusetts blocked a ballot question Tuesday to continue classifying Uber and Lyft drivers as independent contractors, bringing an abrupt end to what was shaping up to be the most fraught and expensive ballot battle in the state.
The industry-backed initiative, which parallels employers’ efforts in other states like California, had divided drivers and sparked fierce debate among Massachusetts politicians and union allies. Proponents said the classification would preserve drivers’ ability to choose their own hours while adding new benefits. Opponents argued workers would continue to be deprived of the rights afforded to those classified as employees.
But in the end, both potential versions of the proposed ballot question were tossed on a technicality. In a unanimous ruling on a challenge filed by labor advocates, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court essentially said tech companies including Uber and Lyft overplayed their hand by also including language that would shield them from being held liable should their drivers get in accidents by specifying them as “not an employee or agent.”
That, the court said, runs afoul of a clause in the state constitution that’s felled other ballot initiatives in Massachusetts in the past: petitions can...
Russia's Defense Ministry is reporting alleged battlefield successes on Max, but some of its claims lack evidence. Even Russian military bloggers are questioning claims that Ukrainian forces have ...