Self-Employed or Employee? UK Drivers Take Uber to Court for Workers’ Rights 是自雇者還是員工？英國駕駛把Uber告上法庭爭取員工權益

Two ex-Uber drivers in London brought a case to the Supreme Court to fight for their workers’ rights. Uber insisted that all its drivers are self-employed rather than employees of the firm. It saw itself as a platform to connect drivers and passengers. Uber drivers are free to choose whether to accept trips offered to them and able to decide at will when to use the app.

However, drivers claimed that Uber had strict control over them, which made them more like workers than independent contractors. They pointed out that by classing its drivers as freelancers, Uber avoids having to provide minimum wage, holiday pay, and paid rest breaks. The final judgment will affect tens of thousands of people who earn a living in the gig economy nowadays.

友善讓你懂 │ 解說：

英國倫敦兩名司機離開Uber後，一路告到最高法院爭取拿回他們的員工權益。Uber堅稱旗下司機都是自雇者而非公司員工。這間公司將自己定位為媒合駕駛與乘客的服務平台。司機可以自由選擇要不要接下乘客的搭乘訂單，也可以隨意決定什麼時候想使用Uber的出行媒合app。

然而，司機們主張，在工作時Uber對他們採取很嚴格的管控，使得他們比起「獨立承攬人（獨立契約員工）」，實際上更像是「員工」。他們指出，Uber透過把旗下駕駛定義為自由接案者來規避保障員工權益的責任，包括提供最低工資、有薪假以及上班時段中的休息時間等等。最後出爐的判決，預計將會影響到成千上萬名在現在零工經濟下辛苦賺錢謀生的工作者。

輕鬆帶著走 │ 學習：

court是法庭，take sb/sth to court是「把某人/某件事告上法院」的意思。此案從2016年開始，Uber一路上訴到如今的最高法院，若最高法院仍維持判定「Uber駕駛為員工而非自雇者」，Uber將需付出大筆的補償金，並提供英國法律對員工的相關保障給旗下司機。文末的「零工經濟gig economy」是指企業跟獨立工作者簽訂短期合約的工作模式，

例句：

A group of users took the company to court for leaking their personal information.

一群使用者因為個資被外洩，把這間公司告上法院，。

本篇其他相關單字：

• Supreme Court 最高法院
• self-employed adj./n. 自雇者
• employee n. 雇員
• contractor n. 承辦人、承包商
• freelancer n. 自由接案者