Uber Succeeds in Forcing Drivers To Arbitrate N.Y. Wage Claims

Two Uber Technologies Inc. drivers must individually arbitrate, rather than litigate as a class, claims that they were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees under New York law, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled Friday.

Rideshare drivers, as a nationwide class, aren’t sufficiently engaged in interstate commerce because they don’t regularly cross state lines in the course of their work, Judge Valerie E. Caproni said. The evidence shows that the majority of their trips are “short and local.”

As such, they can’t use the Federal Arbitration Act’s exemption for transportation workers to avoid arbitrating their claims againts Uber, the ...