Lyft agreed to pay $272.5 million to settle a California lawsuit alleging it misclassified drivers as independent contractors from 2016 through 2020 and denied them protections required under state law. California’s attorney general and three city attorneys announced the settlement Thursday.
The settlement, described by the Los Angeles Times as the state’s largest wage-and-hour settlement, directs 87% of the total to drivers. Lyft said it believes drivers were properly classified under the law and was glad to resolve the case. The agreement applies only to Lyft; Ars Technica reported that the underlying 2020 lawsuit had also named Uber.