Bolt drivers have won their legal claim to be classed as workers, giving them rights that include paid holiday and to be paid at least the national minimum wage.
Lawyers believe the compensation owed to their 15,000 clients could be worth more than £200 million.
In a judgment handed down this morning, the employment tribunal ruled that the Bolt drivers represented by law firm Leigh Day were not, as Bolt claimed, self-employed contractors who run their own businesses.
Estonian app operator Bolt is a rival to Uber and has been operating in the UK since 2019. As of April 2023, there were 100,000 Bolt drivers in the UK working across 19 cities including London, Manchester and Birmingham.
The control that the firm has over the drivers’ work and the terms and conditions that Bolt applies to the drivers’ relationship with the company means they are workers, ruled the tribunal.
As workers, they are entitled to workers’ rights and protection under employment law.
The ruling follows a three-week hearing in the employment tribunal in September 2024. It affects all of the 100,000-plus drivers who take on work through the Bolt private hire hailing app, who can now argue they should be classed as workers with all the employment rights and protection the classification includes.
Those drivers who are part of the Leigh Day legal claim will also be entitled to backdated compensation for underpayment of the minimum wage and unpaid holiday.
The law firm said there was still time for more drivers to join the legal claim and claim the right to compensation. Leigh Day believes that on average, each driver could be entitled to compensation of over £15,000.
Bolt said it was weighing up its options in response to the ruling.
The employment tribunal will next year decide how much compensation for unpaid holiday pay and lost income each driver will receive.
Bolt drivers launched their own legal claim to be classed as workers following the 2021 Supreme Court ruling that Uber drivers are workers. Bolt drivers claimed that the ruling also applies to their working situation. Leigh Day also represented Uber drivers in their successful worker status claim.
Shortly before the Bolt hearing was due to start in September, the firm announced that although it did not consider its drivers to be workers, as of 1 August 2024 they would receive holiday pay and the national living wage, the same rights that drivers were fighting for in their claim. However, Leigh Day argued that the way Bolt calculates the payments did not comply with employment legislation.
Bolt currently only pays its drivers for time spent on trips. However, the employment tribunal decided that drivers should also be paid for time spent logged into the app, providing they were not also logged into apps for other private hire operators.
Leigh Day employment team solicitor Charlotte Pettman said the judgment confirmed that “gig economy operators cannot continue to falsely classify their workers as independent contractors running their own business to avoid providing the rights those workers are properly entitled to. We call on Bolt to compensate our clients without further delay.”
The law firm is also representing 700 Addison Lee drivers in a similar claim currently being heard by the Watford Employment Tribunal. A parallel claim on behalf of hundreds of Ola drivers is due to be heard by the London Central Employment Tribunal next week.
A Bolt spokesperson said: “Drivers are at the heart of what we do, and we have always supported the overwhelming majority’s choice to remain self-employed independent contractors, protecting their flexibility, personal control, and earning potential. We will continue to engage with drivers as we carefully review our options, including grounds for appeal, ensuring that we are helping drivers to succeed as entrepreneurs and grow on their own terms.”
The GMB union said the Bolt ruling went further than the landmark case against Uber in 2021, after which Uber agreed to recognise the GMB.
GMB national officer Eamon O’Hearn said the Bolt judgement raised “questions for the industry around waiting time and multi-apping.”
He said: “We believe workers’ rights around holidays should be universal and this ruling confirms that fact.”
He added the union would “review the decision closely and engage with the industry to understand the implications for our members”.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today
Browse more human resources jobs
