More than 1,600 UK drivers working for the ride-hailing app Bolt are seeking compensation for missed holidays and minimum wage payments because they argue they have been wrongly classed as self-employed contractors.
In the first stage of filing a claim against Bolt, lawyers for drivers wrote to the government-backed workplace conciliation service Acas.
The supreme court endorsed an employment tribunal ruling last year that drivers for Uber should be classed as workers, with access to minimum wage, paid holidays and pensions. Uber has paid more than 150 million in compensation to drivers over missed pay, and it has changed the way it rewards drivers.
One London-based Bolt driver said: Getting workers rights would make a big difference to me, especially with the price of everything going up. It's stressful to think if you have enough money to pay all your bills each month. Bolt, based in Estonia, works with 65,000 drivers in the UK across 19 cities including London, Birmingham and Manchester.
Alex Marshall, president of the IWGB Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, said workers were standing up to unfair employment practices that leave them without a secure income. He said that drivers working for Bolt value flexibility but are currently denied basic rights and protections. Like Uber has done in the past, Bolt has used the wrongful misclassification of workers as an excuse for forcing drivers to work without holiday pay, guaranteed minimum earnings, and other rights. Charlotte Pettman, a solicitor in the employment team at Leigh Day who is headed the claim, said that Bolt drivers should be given worker status and the rights this affords. The supreme court in the UK has ruled in favor of Uber drivers in their workers' rights claims.
This should be a clear warning to other companies with similar business models that they cannot continue to short-change their drivers. Bolt said the company complies with applicable laws and regulations specific to our business. A spokesman said that the Supreme Court ruling regarding Uber's operating model in 2016 was different from our own.
Bolt's operating model means drivers get higher earnings per trip and benefit from total flexibility. Our extensive driver engagement shows that this model is what the majority of our drivers want to see.
We operate in a highly competitive market to attract drivers, so it is in our interests to have a model that works best for them. If not, they will go elsewhere.