Lyft Inc. is offering about 100,000 drivers in California an average of $56.14 each and some non-monetary perks to drop claims that the ride-sharing company systematically exploits them.
The Teamsters union says the settlement forfeits the main goal of the drivers’ lawsuit: to force Lyft to treat them as full-fledged employees rather than contractors.
If Lyft persuades a federal judge to approve the accord announced in January, the company will be a step ahead of its larger rival Uber Technologies Inc., which is scheduled to go to trial in June in a similar lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
