Latest Sharing Economy Headlines

All the headlines from our Sharing Economy Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Massachusetts Sues Uber, Lyft to Classify Drivers as Employees

Jul 15 2020 // Massachusetts on Tuesday followed California in suing Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc. over allegedly misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors instead of employees entitled to extensive benefits.The...

Canada’s Supreme Court Allows Class Action Seeking Employee Status for Uber Drivers

Jun 26 2020 // OTTAWA— Canada’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a driver in a gig economy case that paves the way for a class action suit calling for Uber Technologies Inc. to recognize drivers in Canada as company...

California Wants Judge to Force Uber, Lyft to Classify Drivers as Employees

Jun 25 2020 // California plans to ask a state court judge to force Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. to classify their ride-hail drivers as employees rather than contractors, ratcheting up the tension over a new gig worker law.Shares...

Lyft Settles Disabled Discrimination Claims in California

Jun 24 2020 // Lyft Inc. has agreed to settle allegations that it violated federal law when some of its drivers refused to give rides to people using folding walkers or collapsible wheelchairs in the Los Angeles area, the U.S....

California Regulator Says Uber, Lyft Drivers Are Employees

Jun 11 2020 // Drivers working for ride-hailing services such as Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc will be considered employees under California’s new gig worker law, the state’s leading industry regulator said on...

Buckle Adds Delivery Coverage During Pandemic for Georgia Rideshare Drivers

May 18 2020 // Buckle, a technology-driven financial services company, has been granted temporary approval to add insurance coverage to its rideshare driver members’ policies for the delivery of food, household supplies, and other...

California Attorney General and City Attorneys Sue Uber, Lyft for Worker Misclassification

May 5 2020 // California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the city attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, on Tuesday sued Uber and Lyft for misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors in violation of the...

Insurtech Demo Day 2020

Apr 29 2020 // Just a week shy of our Virtual Insurtech Summit, to air Wednesday, May 6th, I attended the virtual Demo Day of the Hartford Insurtech Hub on Tuesday, April 28th. As the host for our upcoming Summit, I’ve spent time...

Gig Workers Seeking Coronavirus Unemployment Insurance Frustrated

Apr 3 2020 // Uber and Lyft drivers are hitting a wall in their efforts to apply for the coronavirus jobless benefits promised by Congress as state agencies say they are not ready to handle a class of workers who are totally new to the...

As Coronavirus Threatens Gig Workers, Uber Presses for New Worker Classification

Mar 25 2020 // As independent contractors, U.S. ride-hail drivers for Uber and Lyft benefited from soaring trip demand and flexible work hours.But as the coronavirus brings large parts of the country to a halt, drivers and companies are...

Uber, Lyft to Halt Shared Rides to Help Limit Coronavirus Spread

Mar 17 2020 // Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. Tuesday began suspending shared rides on their ride-hailing platforms in the United States and Canada to limit the spread of the coronavirus.The pooled option, which allows riders to...

Uber Drivers Take Backseat in Clash Between Safety and Customer Privacy

Mar 11 2020 // Margaret Bordelon can still feel the hands of the drunk man who tried to pull her in for a kiss at the end of his Uber ride last September in Lafayette, Louisiana.An Uber driver for only a few months, Bordelon, 45, finally...

James River Accuses 52 South Carolina Residents of Faking Uber Accidents

Mar 9 2020 // Some South Carolina residents deliberately caused hit-and-run accidents while in Uber rides as part of an insurance scam, a car insurance company says in a lawsuit.The lawsuit from James River Insurance says 52 people were...

French Court Deals Blow to Uber by Giving Drivers Employee Status

Mar 5 2020 // France’s top court has recognized the right of an Uber driver to be considered an employee, a ruling that could upend the U.S. firm’s business model and potentially require it to pay more taxes and benefits...

Many Vehicles, Many Uses, Many Questions

Feb 26 2020 // This week’s blog post comes to us from friend of the Academy, Joseph S. Harrington. Joe is a prolific writer, observer, and commentator on the insurance industry. This post is based on his recent Academy webinar by...

James River Accuses 52 South Carolina Residents of Faking Uber Accidents

Feb 24 2020 // Some South Carolina residents deliberately caused hit-and-run accidents while in Uber rides as part of an insurance scam, a car insurance company says in a lawsuit.The lawsuit from James River Insurance says 52 people were...

The State of Autonomous Driving: Shuttles vs. Moonshots in Big Stakes Race

Feb 19 2020 // May Mobility Inc.’s boxy white-and-green self-driving shuttle pulls up to a damp corner in downtown Detroit. Its big doors swing out revealing a safety driver and six seats that face each other. It’s more...

Judge Stalls Uber’s Challenge to Controversial California Job Law

Feb 12 2020 // A federal judge has refused to exempt rideshare company Uber and on-demand meal delivery service Postmates from a broad new California labor law while she considers their lawsuit.U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los...

Gaining a Risk Manager Seat at Technology’s Table: Interview with RIMS Leader Langone

Feb 11 2020 // The culture at technology startups like Uber, Airbnb and PayPal is all about risk-taking. They start by offering a unique, untested or reimagined product or service or by disrupting an industry’s established...

Uber, Postmates Lose Bid to Block California Gig Worker Law… for Now

Feb 10 2020 // A U.S. judge on Monday rejected a request by Uber Technologies Inc. and courier services provider Postmates Inc. to block a California labor law from taking effect, saying the bill’s public benefits outweighed the...