Lyft agrees to pay $272.5 million to settle California driver misclassification lawsuit

Lyft has agreed to pay California $272.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it misclassified drivers as independent contractors, denying them employee wages and benefits.

• The settlement, pending court approval, covers violations from April 2016 to December 2020 and will distribute over $237 million to drivers.
• State Attorney General Rob Bonta called it the largest wage theft settlement in California history.
• Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower said the commission will forgo its share of the settlement to pay drivers who filed wage claims.
• A near-identical lawsuit against Uber is still continuing.