By:  Ilana Siyance

On Friday, a New York State judge blocked regulators from raising the pay for ride-hail drivers, ruling that the Taxi and Limousine Commission had not provided sufficient support for the raises.

As reported by the NY Times, Justice Arthur F. Engoron of State Supreme Court in Manhattan ruled, siding with Uber, which had sued the TLC commission protesting that the driver pay hikes were too high.  In November, the NYC agency had approved heft pay increases for drivers.  In December, Uber sued saying the hikes would translate to an extra $21 million to $23 million per month to pay its drivers. As per the Times, the ride share giant argued in court that it couldn’t take on the extra cost of the salary increases without increasing the price for consumers—estimating that it would need  to raise fares by 10 percent, possibly driving business down.  Uber had called the commission’s hike a “drastic departure” from past practices.

In mid-December, just days before the taxi commission raise was bound to take effect, the judge had placed a temporary block on the raise.  On Friday, to the dismay of the Uber drivers, the decision came in, with the judge sympathizing for drivers of raid-hail companies, but ultimately ruling that the commission had used an inaccurate method to calculate the pay increase—including depending on seasonal factors like the sharp gas price increases last summer, which have since calmed down.  The Times reported that drivers already got a 5 percent raise to adjust for inflation in March, which is about half of what the TLC had approved in its proposed raise.

Uber drivers have been protesting the judge’s hold via one-day strikes on Dec. 19 as well as another strike this week.  “It’s the wrong decision,” said Bhairavi Desai, the executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents roughly 27,000 for-hire drivers in NYC, referring to the court’s ruling.  Ms. Desai told the NY Times that drivers’ work and living expenses have jumped with inflation and that the judge’s ruling would delay the expected and celebrated raise by at least a few months. She promised to continue fighting for the raises and vowed more strikes from the drivers.

A spokesman for the commission said they would carefully consider and decide whether to appeal the decision. “I am disappointed for the city’s drivers, who deserve better,” David Do, the commission’s chairman, said in a prepared statement. “Once the written ruling is issued, we are going to review it carefully and continue to do what’s needed to protect this important pay standard.”

A representative for Uber praised the judge’s decision, saying that the hike proposed by the commission had been arbitrary and based on temporary gas price fluctuations and market shocks.   “Rates should be calculated in a way that is transparent, consistent and predictable,” said representative Josh Gold. “Existing T.L.C. rules continue to provide for an annual review tied to the rate of inflation.”