After long wait, Mass. trial on rideshare driver status set to begin

The proceeding in Suffolk Superior Court will weigh whether Uber and Lyft misclassified their Bay State drivers as independent contractors instead of employees

By Chris Lisinski • Published May 12, 2024 • Updated on May 12, 2024 at 2:10 pm

In this February file photo, Paul Mbimeh of Brockton takes to the megaphone as Uber and Lyft drivers protest to demand union rights and higher wages at the Massachusetts State House.

The judicial front in the long-running battle over Uber and Lyft's treatment of Massachusetts workers has been a flurry of paperwork for nearly four years. That's about to change.

Monday marks the start of a massively impactful Suffolk Superior Court trial about whether the companies that redrew the transportation landscape, both here and across the country, did so by misclassifying their Bay State drivers as independent contractors instead of employees, with all of the pay and benefits that status entails.

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