Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed a ride hail bill that would have guaranteed a minimum wage to all ride hail drivers on Tuesday.
According to the Associated Press, Frey instead “secured a commitment” with Uber—but not Lyft—to pay drivers in Minneapolis $15.19 an hour for time spent transporting riders in the city, which is already the Minneapolis minimum wage for large companies. Uber and Lyft drivers are classified as independent contractors in Minnesota and not bound by the city’s minimum wage laws for workers.
The bill was approved by the Minneapolis City Council in a 7-5 vote last week and would have guaranteed payment of $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute, with a minimum payment of $5 per ride. It would also have guaranteed drivers are paid 80 percent of the cancellation fee if a rider cancels and guaranteed drivers be paid any extra fees charged to the rider.
It also would have created more stringent requirements around “deactivation”—Uber and Lyft’s euphemistic term for banning drivers from the app; ride hail companies would need to provide clear written rules around what warrants a deactivation and provide notice to drivers ahead of such deactivation 5 days beforehand. Drivers would be guaranteed a meeting to discuss the deactivation within 7 days of receiving a notice. And drivers deactivated as of January 1, 2021, could retroactively request such a meeting under the legislation. To garner support from riders with safety concerns, it also mandated...
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