Dr Eric Crampton: Über-messy

On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that four Uber drivers have actually been Uber employees all along.

In the Court’s view, Uber had enough control over those drivers’ businesses that they couldn’t be considered contractors.

Roger Partridge: Analysing Uber - the critical point the Supreme Court failed to properly consider

The Supreme Court’s Uber judgment (Rasier Operations BV v E Tū Inc [2025] NZSC 162) has delivered clarity of a sort. The Court dismissed Uber’s appeal, upholding the finding that drivers are employees when logged into the Uber app.

The decision was unanimous on the outcome but divided on reasoning. The majority judgment of Winkelmann CJ , Williams and Miller JJ and the separate judgment by Glazebrook and Ellen France JJ disagreed on fundamental questions, including whether the Court of Appeal had erred in the role of subjective intention in the analysis.

Dr Eric Crampton: If this is employment law, the law needs to change

Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that Uber did not merely facilitate connections between four drivers and their various passengers – as Uber has maintained. And that the four drivers were not contractors for Uber either.

Instead, those drivers were Uber employees while logged into the app.

If they were employees, it’s a strange sort of employment relationship.

Dr Eric Crampton: Court ruling on Uber drivers undermines the ride-share model

There are a couple of ways to solve a problem like the Court of Appeal’s ruling that four Uber drivers are employees rather than contractors.

Either of them would work. At least one of them is needed. And one of them might be more likely to survive a change of government.

But first, the problem.

Mike's Minute: Uber decision could have a chilling effect

The New Zealand Uber drivers have won their case in the Court of Appeal. It agrees with the Employment Court that Uber drivers should be employees, not contractors.

Other courts in other countries have broadly come down on the same lines.

But not in California. The other day, the court there agreed with the people. And the people had voted in a proposition that drivers should be contractors because that’s what drivers signed up to.

So you can ask, is democracy right? Or is a court right?