1000’s of Bolt drivers gained their authorized declare to be recognised as employees, securing rights to paid holidays and a minimal wage.
After the landmark ruling, handed down by an employment tribunal on Friday, regulation agency Leigh Day stated the compensation owed to the 15,000 drivers they characterize might be value greater than £200m.
The tribunal decided that the connection between Bolt and its drivers doesn’t represent self-employment, as claimed by Bolt, however slightly an employment association, granting the drivers important employee protections beneath employment regulation.
It impacts the entire 100,000-plus drivers who tackle work by the Bolt journey hailing app, Leigh Day stated.
This determination was reached following a three-week listening to in September 2024.
Leigh Day, who additionally represented Uber drivers in the same profitable declare in 2021, contends that every Bolt driver might be entitled to over £15,000 in backdated compensation for underpayment and unpaid vacation pay.
The ruling impacts over 100,000 drivers utilizing Bolt’s non-public rent hailing app, who can now search employee standing.
Forward of the listening to, Bolt introduced it will begin providing vacation pay and the nationwide residing wage from August 2024.
The tribunal dominated drivers have to be compensated not just for journeys but additionally for time spent logged into the app, supplied they aren’t logged into different non-public rent apps concurrently.
Additional hearings are scheduled to find out the precise compensation quantities for the affected drivers.
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Leigh Day employment solicitor Charlotte Pettman stated the ruling marks a major step ahead in securing honest remedy for gig economic system employees.
“We’re very happy that the employment tribunal has present in favour of our Bolt driver shoppers,” Ms Pettman stated.
“This judgment confirms that gig economic system operators can’t proceed to falsely classify their employees as impartial contractors working their very own enterprise to keep away from offering the rights these employees are correctly entitled to.”
“We name on Bolt to compensate our shoppers with out additional delay,” she added.
Bolt, which has its headquarters in Estonia, has but to touch upon the tribunal’s determination.
A parallel declare on behalf of a whole bunch of Ola drivers is because of be heard by the London Central Employment Tribunal from Tuesday. It’s scheduled to final for eight days.
