Bolt Drivers have been able to win their legal claim that they are workers and therefore entitled to paid holidays, minimum wages, and paid holiday pay.
The lawyers believe that the compensation due to their 15 clients could amount to more than PS200 Million.
The employment tribunal, in a judgement delivered this morning, ruled that Bolt drivers, represented by the law firm Leigh Day, were not self-employed contractors running their own businesses, as Bolt had claimed.
Bolt, an Estonian app that competes with Uber in the UK, has been active since 2019. By April 2023 there will be 100,000 Bolt drivers working in 19 UK cities, including London, Manchester, and Birmingham.
Bolt’s control over drivers’ jobs and its terms and conditions for drivers’ relationships with the company make them workers, according to the tribunal.
Employment law protects and guarantees their rights as workers.
This ruling was made after a three-week trial in the Employment Tribunal in September 2024. The ruling affects the more than 100,000 drivers who work on the Bolt private-hire hailing app. They can now claim they should be classified as workers, with all the rights and protection that classification provides.
Drivers who were part of Leigh Day’s legal claim are entitled to compensation backdated for unpaid holidays and underpaid minimum wages.
There is still time to claim compensation and join the legal claim. Leigh Day estimates that each driver is entitled to an average compensation of more than 15,000.
Bolt stated that it is weighing its options as a response to the ruling.
Next year, the employment tribunal will decide on how much compensation each driver receives for unpaid holidays and lost income.
Bolt drivers filed their own lawsuit to be classified as workers after the Supreme Court’s ruling in 2021 that Uber drivers were workers. Bolt drivers claimed the ruling applied to their employment situation. Leigh Day represented Uber drivers as well in their successful worker-status claim.
The firm announced shortly before the Bolt hearing in September was to begin that, although it didn’t consider its drivers as workers, they would be entitled to holiday pay and national living wages from 1 August 2024, the same rights for which drivers had fought in their claim. Leigh Day, however, argued that Bolt’s method of calculating the payments was not in compliance with employment laws.
Bolt pays its drivers only for the time they spend on trips. The employment tribunal ruled that drivers must be paid for the time they spend logged in to the app. This is provided that the driver has not logged into other apps.
Charlotte Pettman, a member of the Leigh Day Employment team, said that the ruling confirmed “gig economy operators can no longer falsely classify workers as independent contractors who run their own businesses to avoid providing them with the rights they are entitled to.” Bolt must compensate our clients immediately.
The firm also represents 700 Addison Lee Drivers in , a similar claim that is currently being heard at the Watford Employment Tribunal. The London Central Employment Tribunal will hear a parallel claim next week on behalf of hundreds Ola drivers.
Bolt’s spokesperson stated: “Drivers have always been at the core of our work, and we support the vast majority who choose to be self-employed independent contract workers, protecting their flexibility and earning potential, as well as personal control and control over their own lives.” We will continue to work with drivers while we review our options and grounds for appeal. This is to ensure that we help drivers succeed as entrepreneurs, grow on their terms, and earn more money.
The GMB union claimed that the Bolt ruling was more important than the landmark case in 2021 against Uber, following which Uber accepted to recognise the GMB.
Eamon O’Hearn, national officer of GMB, said that the Bolt judgment raised “questions about waiting time and multiple-apping” for the industry.
He said: We believe that workers’ rights should be universal, and this decision confirms it.
The union will “review this decision closely and engage the industry to understand its implications for our members”.
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