Uber, Lyft Accused of Wage Theft by California Labor Office

California’s labor commissioner said she has filed two lawsuits against Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. alleging they withheld wages from employees who were misclassified as independent contractors.

The complaints against Uber and Lyft filed in Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday come as the companies defend a number of legal disputes from state and local officials to comply with A.B. 5, a 2019 law that makes it harder for employers to classify their workers as independent contractors.

“The Uber and Lyft business model rests on the misclassification of drivers as independent contractors,” Commissioner Lilia García-Brower said in a ...