A California appeals court judge Thursday granted Uber and Lyft’s emergency stay, according to media reports, thus postponing an injunction from going into effect on Friday which sought to make the rideshare companies reclassify their drivers as employees. The court will now review Uber and Lyft’s appeal to overturn an earlier trial court’s ruling. The companies have until early September to outline their plans regarding how they will make drivers employees if they lose the appeal as well as if Proposition 22 doesn’t pass in November. The state ballot measure seeks to classify app-based drivers as contractors, in contrast to California law AB 5, which classified them as employees starting in January. Lyft had threatened to suspend its rideshare operations in California by midnight Thursday. Lyft said in a statement: “We don’t want to suspend operations. We are going to keep up the fight for a benefits model that works for all drivers and our riders. We’ve spent hundreds of hours meeting with policymakers and labor leaders to craft an alternative proposal for drivers that includes a minimum earnings guarantee, mileage reimbursement, a health care subsidy, and occupational accident insurance, without the negative consequences.” California officials have advocated for benefits to drivers who work on the Uber or Lyft platforms — including a minimum earnings guarantee and a health care subsidy. Since January, when AB 5 passed and became California law, it has impacted thousands of gig-economy Californians, including Uber and Lyft drivers and freelancers of all types, including writers, illustrators, photographers and hair stylists.
