Tag Archives: Company Legal & Law Matters

Uber and Lyft must pay $328 million to New York drivers in massive wage theft settlement

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Uber and Lyft have agreed to pay a combined $328 million in settlements following a wage theft investigation by the New York attorney general’s office. According to New York AG Letitia James, the companies’ policies “systematically cheated their drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars in pay and benefits.” They’ll both now have to pay settlement funds to more than 100,000 current and former drivers in New York, and offer both minimum hourly pay rates and paid sick leave.

In the two settlements, Uber has to pay $290 million, while Lyft must pay $38 million. The AG’s office found both Uber and Lyft shortchanged drivers by deducting sales taxes from drivers’ commissions that should have been paid by riders between 2014 and 2017. They also did not offer paid sick leave. As a result of the settlement, drivers outside of New York City will be guaranteed an earnings floor of $26 per hour (NYC drivers already have minimum rates under Taxi & Limousine Commission regulations), and will earn one hour of sick pay for every 30 hours worked. This will be capped at 56 hours per year.

NYC drivers will get $17 per hour for sick leave, while drivers outside of the city will get $26 per hour. Both rates will be adjusted annually for inflation. Drivers can put in a claim for their share of the settlement on the New York Attorney General’s website. The companies will also be required to update their apps to improve the process for putting in sick leave requests and provide support for pay-related questions, plus earnings statements for drivers which explain their compensation in detail.

Uber separately settled with the Department of Labor today as well following two lawsuits over its failure to provide unemployment benefits for drivers. The company will now have to make quarterly payments into the New York State Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund to cover its drivers, and pay an as yet undisclosed amount in retroactive payments going back to 2013.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has sued multiple times seeking unemployment benefits for drivers, as the fight over whether they should be considered employees or independent contractors continues. “Today's settlement is a victory for Uber drivers across the state who will no longer be denied timely access to life-saving benefits by Uber in their darkest hour, and New York taxpayers will no longer have to subsidize the billionaires at Uber and Lyft,” the NYWTA and Legal Services NYC said in a statement about the settlement. “Drivers for the state's largest employer will now be able to access unemployment benefits moving forward without endless obstacles and denials.”

New York has been cracking down on app-based service providers in recent years amid a push by the Biden administration to see gig workers classified as employees. A California court, however, slapped down one such bill in March, allowing companies to continue classifying their drivers as contractors. But NY has made progress recently in securing more protections. In September, Uber, GrubHub and DoorDash were told they must pay their delivery workers a minimum wage.

Update, November 2 2023, 3:10PM ET: This story has been updated to include information on a second settlement Uber reached today with the New York Department of Labor, and a statement from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uber-and-lyft-must-pay-328-million-to-new-york-drivers-in-massive-wage-theft-settlement-155716817.html?src=rss

Scarlett Johannson takes legal action against AI app that cloned her likeness

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Oscar-nominated actor Scarlett Johansson has taken legal action against an AI app developer for using her likeness in an ad without permission, Variety has reported. The 22-second ad promoted an AI image editor called Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar, and reportedly used an AI-generated version of Johansson's voice and image.

The ad showed a real clip of Johansson in a Black Widow behind-the-scenes clip, saying "What's up guys? It's Scarlett and I want you to come with me...". It then transitions to AI-generated photos and a cloned version of her voice promoting the AI app. Under the ad is fine print that states: "Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person." Multiple Lisa AI apps created by Convert Software remain on the App Store and Google Play, according to Variety, but the ad no longer appears on X. 

Johansson is "handling the situation in a legal capacity," said her lawyer Kevin Yorn. "We do not take these things lightly. Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have," he added. 

Johansson has one of the best known faces (and voices) in Hollywood and is the spokesperson for high-end companies including Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton. Given that, it's hard to believe that someone would even attempt to rip off her likeness, if the claim is accurate (and it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the quality of ads on X). 

The idea of using AI to rip off celebrity likenesses is a relatively new phenomenon, so the legal ramifications are still being worked out. In one notable incident, actor Tom Hanks warned his fans on social media that videos using AI versions of his likeness were being used to fraudulently hawk products. 

Though it's still a legal grey area, some states have related laws around privacy rights, with California for one allowing civil lawsuits for the unauthorized use in advertising or promotion of someone’s "name, voice, signature, photograph or likeness." 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/scarlett-johannson-takes-legal-action-against-ai-app-that-cloned-her-likeness-065505106.html?src=rss

Google and Match Group settle antitrust case before it goes to trial

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The antitrust lawsuit Epic Games and Match Group have filed against Google was supposed to go to trial on November 6, but now it looks like the video game developer might go at it alone. Google and Match, the parent company of Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge, have reached an agreement and have agreed to drop all claims against each other. According to Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal, Google has agreed to return the $40 million Match had place in escrow to cover the service fees it would supposedly owe the Alphabet unit while the dispute is ongoing.

Match also announced in its earning report that its apps will be using Google's User Choice Billing program starting on March 31, 2024. Under the program, users will have the option to choose between Google's and the developer's billing systems when purchasing an app or paying for a subscription. If they choose to use Google's system, then Match will have to pay Google 15 percent for recurring subscriptions and 30 percent for one-off payments. Google's cut is reduced to 11 percent and 26 percent, respectively, for payments that go through the developer's provided alternative. The dating services provider said that the terms they agreed on will offset the additional costs its apps will incur implementing the User Choice Billing program over three years starting in 2024.

Tinder's parent company originally sued Google in 2022, accusing it of violating federal and state antitrust laws. Match said that Google previously assured it that it could use its own payment system. However, when it announced a new policy that would require all Android developers to process payments through the Play Store billing system, Google allegedly threatened to remove its apps from the store if it didn't comply. Match also claimed that the company had been rejecting app updates that maintained the payment system it was using.

Later that year, Match had joined up with Epic Games, and the two consolidated their antitrust lawsuit against their common foe. They even expanded their allegations and accused Google of paying major developers hundreds of millions of dollars to keep their apps in the Play Store. Bloomberg says Epic is now scheduled to face Google in court alone on November 2, and the judge is waiting for both parties to decide whether they want a jury to make the decision for their case. Epic had also sued Apple over the same issue, but in Google's case, the court has to acknowledge that Android users can sideload applications to their devices. The video game developer hasn't dropped any hints that it's also hashing out an agreement with the bigger company, but we'll know for sure if the trial still pushes through on November 2.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/google-and-match-group-settle-antitrust-case-before-it-goes-to-trial-041158809.html?src=rss

Tesla’s Autopilot was not to blame for fatal 2019 Model 3 crash, jury finds

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A California jury has found that Tesla was not at fault for a fatal 2019 crash that allegedly involved its Autopilot system, in the first US trial yet for a case claiming its software directly caused a death. The lawsuit alleged Tesla knowingly shipped out cars with a defective Autopilot system, leading to a crash that killed a Model 3 owner and severely injured two passengers, Reuters reports.

Per the lawsuit, 37-year-old Micah Lee was driving his Tesla Model 3 on a highway outside of Los Angeles at 65 miles per hour when it turned sharply off the road and slammed into a palm tree before catching fire. Lee died in the crash. The company was sued for $400 million plus punitive damages by Lee’s estate and the two surviving victims, including a boy who was 8 years old at the time and was disemboweled in the accident, according to an earlier report from Reuters.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that Tesla sold Lee defective, “experimental” software when he bought a Model 3 in 2019 that was billed to have full self-driving capability. The FSD system was and still is in beta. In his opening statement, their attorney Jonathan Michaels also said that the “excessive steering command is a known issue at Tesla.”

Tesla’s defense argued that there was no such defect, and that an analysis cited by the plaintiffs’ lawyers identifying a steering issue was actually looking for problems that were theoretically possible. A fix to prevent it from ever happening was engineered as a result of that analysis, according to the company. Tesla blamed human error for the crash, pointing to tests that showed Lee had consumed alcohol before getting in the car, and argued that there’s no certainty Autopilot was in use at the time.

The jury ultimately found there was no defect, and Tesla was cleared on Tuesday. Tesla has faced lawsuits over its Autopilot system in the past, but this is the first involving a fatality. It’s scheduled to go on trial for several others in the coming months, and today's ruling is likely to set the tone for those ahead.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/teslas-autopilot-was-not-to-blame-for-fatal-2019-model-3-crash-jury-finds-210643301.html?src=rss