Pride in asserting your legal rights, the satisfaction of helping yourself and others, and money. California's employment statutes provide for the money you're owed for overtime, operating expenses, meal breaks, and minimum wage. They also provide penalties of up to 30 days wages for not timely paying what was owed, plus interest, plus attorneys' fees will be awarded if you win in court (in most cases).
What kind of money are we talking about?
Think of it this way: IRS mileage reimbursement rates are more than $0.50 per mile. If you drove 10,000 mileages for Uber within the statute of limitations, that alone is $5,000. Plus, there are penalties of up to 30 days wages for not paying you on time in the first place. And you may be entitled to overtime, or money to bring your total compensation up to minimum wage. In most cases, we think drivers will recover thousand of dollars. In some cases, we expect it'll be tens of thousands of dollars. Don't get too excited, because there are risks, there'll be work to do, and you'll use us a big cut for doing our work. But yeah, this is a no brainer. Sign up. We'd tell our moms and our sisters the same thing.
Do you have your facts right?
Uber's practices are widely known and have been widely litigated. Claims were good until last year. Now, they're very good. The California Supreme Court made an important decision in 2018 in a case called Dynamex that made clear Uber drivers have good claims for minimum wage, overtime, and operating expenses. The law changes. Now, it's good for drivers.
How do I know I can trust a lawyer I hired over the internet?
We handle fraud cases a lot, so we encourage you to be careful. Review our website at Gallo.law. Google us. You'll see that we've recovered millions of dollars for deserving groups of folks like you. Don't miss Ray Gallo's reviews on AVVO.com (clients really appreciate the service we provide), Ray's ratings on Martindale.com, or his profile on the California State Bar website, And remember: You'll never pay us a dime from your pocket for fees or costs. We'll take a share of what we get you, we'll advance all the costs, and we'll do all the work. And you'll get a clear written contract, signed by Ray, covering all of that—if you sign up with us!
Will I owe you money if I sign up?
You will never pay us any fees out of your pocket. We're working on contingency. We'll take our fee and cost reimbursements as a share of the money we get you. There is NO scenario where you owe us money in the end.
This FAQ is not, however, a substitute for reading and understanding our fee arrangement, which is clearly explained with examples in our fee agreement, before you sign it.
What's your fee?
Our fee will be the greater of 40% of the total recovery or the portion of the arbitration award, judgment, or settlement designated as fees (an arbitrator or court may order Uber to pay our fees, so you may not even have to pay a contingency fee from your recovery). Our out-of-pocket costs will be charged against your recovery in addition to our fee. On average, those are minimal because most of them will be shared among a large group of clients. Read our fee agreement carefully, though, to understand exactly how it works. The agreement includes examples to help make things clear. But, again, there is NO scenario where you wind up owing us money.
Is this a class action lawsuit?
We intend to pursue this in the most efficient way possible. All drivers signed arbitration agreements when they went to work for Uber. A few opted out of that agreement. For those in arbitration, cases must be pursued in individual arbitration if Uber wants that. So we will individually represent you and seek your own individual settlement. Class actions generally get worse outcomes for clients but are very useful in cases involving largely identical claims. Here, we're using technology (this website, powered by Leverage) as a technological alternative to class certification, to give us the efficiencies we need to handle your case on an individual basis. This approach allows us to effectively manage thousands of clients with largely identical cases and seek a better than class action recovery. It remains possible that a class action would be allowed and useful here, and that Uber will allow it. If so, we can proceed in court on either a class or mass basis, which may allow you to get a resolution faster, do less, or otherwise be better off.
Where will my claim be filed?
Right here in California, where Uber lives.
I believe in this. How can I support this effort?
Thanks. Please email, tweet, and otherwise notify everybody you know who ever drove for Uber (or any other ridesharing company). Post our website URL on the internet everywhere you can. Let everyone know you've joined and support this case, and send them to https://uber.gallo.law. And "like" Gallo LLP on Facebook.
How long will this take?
Cases like this occasionally settle within a few months of filing, but more often take one to three years, and sometimes significantly longer. But don't worry. We'll be the ones dealing with the costs of that.
Why are you bringing this case?
Gallo LLP files lawsuits that help our clients, that are just, and that better our society and communities. Ideally, we send a message to Corporate America that it should do the right thing, and respect the law and individuals' rights. Of course, yes, we do hope to get you money and to make a profit ourselves in the process by charging you a contingency fee—only by making a profit can we stay in business and bring the next meaningful case. To that end, we may do millions of dollars of work based on our belief that Uber drivers are entitled to earn minimum wage, recover their expenses, get overtime and meal breaks, etc.
If I sign-up, what will I have to do?
We may have thousands of clients, or more. But only a portion of them are likely to do any more than answer a few questions in writing and provide us with some data and/or documents . A client may have his or her deposition taken. In this case, a deposition probably would mean swearing to tell the truth, showing up at an office building near you, and having a lawyer ask you questions for an hour or two (our estimate). You'll also spend an hour or two preparing for those questions. Considering that you could get thousands of dollars from the case and make an important social/political/legal point in the process, it seems well worth your while to take the chance you'll have to spend those hours. Answering additional questions and providing documents also may take you a little time.
Only about 2% of cases actually go to trial these days. In a mass case like this one that probably means there's a 2% chance that 5 or 10 of the thousands of clients we hope to represent will go to trial. There will almost always be the chance to settle before trial if you wish to. Someone who goes to trial would have to take a week or so preparation and trial time.
Here, where you have the right to arbitrate (and thus avoid trial) we expect that a similarly small percentage of our clients might someday have an actual arbitration hearing, which would require maybe a day or two of hearing time, plus a day or so to prepare.
Am I free to end my association with this lawsuit at any time?
You can fire us at any time, for any reason or none. But you will have an arbitration or lawsuit pending that will need tending by a lawyer (we do not recommend doing that yourself). Realistically, you can always settle, but you may get little or nothing if you are desperate or even in a hurry to get out. Still, you can almost always dismiss your case---you just need to instruct us to do so.
