Uber driver who won right to take holiday has request for paid time off denied
An Uber driver who won the right for its employees to take paid holiday in a landmark case has had his own request for time off denied.
James Farrar won last week's employment tribunal, which ruled Uber drivers are not self-employed and therefore should be entitled to the national living wage and paid leave.
He celebrated by putting in a holiday request this week and posted a screenshot on Twitter, adding: “I just put in for my first paid holidays at Uber! Happy Days.”
But then, a few hours later, Mr Farrar posted a second image of Uber’s response, telling him he could not take paid holiday until the court ruling had been appealed.
Mr Farrar wrote: “Bad news from Uber. Just gotta keep working I suppose….”
The email read: “Uber are appealing against the recent Employment Tribunal decision and therefore until a final decision is reached we will not be intending to pay any holiday pay.”
It added: “Clearly, there is no obligation on you to turn on the app next week and therefore you are free to decide whether you are free to decide whether or not to take next week as holiday.”
Mr Farrar said he had been hoping to take the week off to spend time with his family as his mother-in-law was visiting from America.
There are around 40,000 Uber drivers in the UK who are currently not entitled to the national living wage, holiday pay or pensions.
The ruling has led employment experts to believe that other large-scale self-employed workforces could come under greater scrutiny under UK law.
Uber is appealing the decision.
source: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transpor ... 87396.html
