Uber says drivers will remain contractors under AB5, as they aren't core to its business which serves as a platform for several types of digital marketplaces
Data Sheet Tweets: @nytimes : Uber won't comply with a new California law requiring contract workers to be reclassified as employees, saying drivers are not core to its business https://www.nytimes.com/... Faiz Siddiqui / @faizsays : NEWS: Uber says it will not reclassify drivers as employees in the wake of landmark California law, despite the lack of ride-hail exemption in #AB5. Lead attorney argues Uber is exempt from requirements because “drivers' work is outside the usual course of Uber's business.” Bruce Schaller / @bruce_schaller : Not exactly smart lobbying strategy: Uber chief lawyer tells AB5 sponsor Uber will stick to treating drivers as contractors. So before bill passes, she puts in key provision for cities to enforce. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Prem Sikka / @premnsikka : California to give minimum wage, sick pay, holidays & other rights to ‘gig economy’ workers. For far too long companies like Uber & others have exploited workers. UK Labour Party has also promised the give gig workers the same rights as full-time workers. https://www.npr.org/... Jane Kim / @janekim : Um let's think about this. If everyone who drives for Uber stopped tomorrow, Uber wouldn't notice! The rides are core to Uber's business. Yes it's not just the ride but the data collected from rides. None of this happens without the drivers #workersbuildwealth so share it #AB5 https://twitter.com/... Gig Workers Rising / @gigworkersrise : Thank you for supporting AB5, @ewarren. Your support was a great help. Please keep helping us to make sure it is enforced and we get a strong independent union. https://twitter.com/... Alex Russell / @slightlylate : You've really gotta hand it to Uber: they've absolutely turned a corner away from being brazenly, flagarently, and belligerently lawless. They're down to 2 of the 3!: https://www.theverge.com/... Uber Comms / @uber_comms : @faizsays We are not exempt from AB5, and we're not arguing that we are. AB5 has no requirement to reclassify any drivers from independent contractors to employees. The full context here: https://www.uber.com/... Rat King / @mikeisaac : this is 🔥 for transpo wonks https://www.uber.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jordan Weissmann / @jhweissmann : If the drivers aren't a core part of Uber's business, then I guess the company wouldn't mind if they went on strike https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/... @fatherqueerest : Every tech company that currently offers a service as their main product would be an absolute shell of nothing but a database and a marketing department if it weren't for their 1099 classified independent contractors. Every. One. Uber, Lyft, Rover, DoorDash, Wag. All of 'em. https://twitter.com/... @lesserfrederick : If Popeye's made all their cooks independent contractors they could then say they are not in the business of cooking chicken but are only a platform for selling chicken cooked by others. https://twitter.com/... Mrs. Betty Bowers / @bettybowers : “Drivers are not core to our business.” — Uber's Alternative Fact I love how @Uber insults the only people who are keeping it in business. Hmmm I wonder why the company is losing money . . . https://twitter.com/... Bernie Sanders / @berniesanders : Uber's drivers are employees, not independent contractors. Large corporations will do anything to get out of paying workers a decent wage and offering them good benefits. That will end when we are in the White House. https://twitter.com/... Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : Journalists can be critical of Uber's labor practices while also coming clean (like the @LATimes did) that their employers negotiated some pretty awesome exceptions from #ab5. This includes a year delay on delivery drivers, which is a rather similar position to Uber's. https://twitter.com/... Tony West / @tonywest : This is completely wrong. @Uber will absolutely comply with the law—but the law does not “require contract workers to be reclassified as employees.” I made that clear on a call today with your reporters. Leigh Drogen / @ldrogen : $UBER: “we're not a taxi company” Everyone else: *sigh* https://twitter.com/... @chillmage : trying to imagine other companies saying this Whole Foods: grocers are not core to our business Netflix: actors are not core to our business Hair Cuttery: haircutters are not core to our business Chuck e Cheese: mice are not core to our business https://twitter.com/... Rep. Joe Kennedy III / @repjoekennedy : Denying employees health care, a livable wage & retirement benefits shouldn't be a legal corporate strategy baked into profit margins. It can't solely be corporations determining the future of work. Good for California to show us the way, time for federal government to step up. https://twitter.com/... Judd Legum / @juddlegum : Uber says DRIVERS are not a core part of its business and therefore a new California bill regulating the gig economy would not apply This is not a joke https://www.nytimes.com/... Yashar Ali / @yashar : Chicken is not core to Popeyes' business https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
California's AB5 was written to make contractor misclassification the exception rather than the rule, and Uber is answering it with a definitional end-run: chief counsel argues drivers' work falls 'outside the usual course' of a company that positions itself as a multi-marketplace platform. That stance extends a pattern dating back to Uber's class-action settlements keeping CA and MA drivers independent, and follows its $60M ballot-measure pledge with Lyft as an insurance policy if the statute stands.
First-order effects
- California drivers stay classified as contractors despite the law taking effect, setting Uber on a direct collision course with state enforcement over AB5's 'core business' test.
- Uber converts a compliance question into a litigation strategy, betting that its self-description as a digital marketplace outweighs the legislature's classification criteria.
Second-order effects
- Lyft and DoorDash ride Uber's legal theory rather than fighting alone — the driver-group countermeasure drew a combined $90M pledge from all three to defeat or override AB5 at the ballot box.
- Classification defense starts leaking into product design: once AB5 took effect, Uber shipped California features like driver favoriting explicitly aimed at demonstrating driver independence.
Third-order effects
- If the 'not core to our business' framing survives court challenge, every gig platform has a template for legislating around labor law by redefining what the company is — pushing these fights from courtrooms into ballot initiatives and app behavior, with the eventual winner shaping contractor law nationwide.
The trend: Gig platforms are shifting worker-classification battles from compliance with statutes to redefining their corporate identity, funding ballot measures and reshaping products to keep contractors off payroll.