Uber, Lyft Arbitration Bid Should Fail, California Tells Court

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. don’t have arbitration agreements with California and its labor commissioner, so the companies shouldn’t be able to get driver misclassification-related claims booted from court, government lawyers told a state appellate panel Tuesday.

Arbitration “is a matter of consent, not coercion,” so making California arbitrate when it has a statutory remedy allowing it to seek restitution in court would subvert the purposes of the Federal Arbitration Act, said Molly J. Alarcon, who argued before the California Court of Appeal, First District, on behalf of the state.

California accuses the ride-hailing companies—including three Uber subsidiaries—of misclassifying ...