The Uber ruling is meddlesome over-regulation - which will ultimately backfire The ruling may not only disadvantage customers and drivers, but render Uber's business model totally unviable 19 February 2021 • 5:25pm The Supreme Court today ruled that ride-hailing app Uber must reclassify their drivers as ‘workers’. This verdict has been half a decade in the making, with several appeals by Uber along the way. It will have enormous implications not only for Uber’s business model, but also all ‘gig economy’ workers and their services Uber has argued that drivers are ‘self-employed’ and therefore only legally entitled to basic protections. Now that the Court has ruled that Uber must classify their drivers as ‘workers’ –– a UK specific classification that falls between ‘self-employed’ and ‘employee’ –– the drivers will be entitled to rights like paid holidays, minimum wage, overtime, and regular breaks. This may only apply to the claimants and drivers in 2016, but to cut a long story short, if all Uber drivers are considered workers, regardless of when they became drivers, Uber’s model will break.