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900+ Kiwi Uber Drivers Have Filed for Back Pay — And the Government's Already Trying to Slam the Door Shut for the Rest of Us

  • Writer: Paul Strand
    Paul Strand
  • Aug 11
  • 2 min read

🚗💬 By The Rideshare Guy | Rideshare News


Right, let's talk about the follow-up nobody's been talking about. 🗞️


Back in November 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers are actually employees, not contractors — calling Uber's contracts "window-dressing" designed to disguise what was really going on. Big win, right? 🎉 Well, over 900 NZ Uber drivers have now filed claims with the Employment Relations Authority chasing back pay — minimum wage, holiday pay, the lot — for all the years Uber classified us as contractors while treating us like employees. The Workers First Union reckons it could stretch to well over 1,000 drivers. That's real money, potentially tens of millions of dollars. 💰


Here's the "but," and you knew there'd be a but. ⚖️ Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden has already said she "wasn't intending" the new employment test to apply to the past — which is government-speak for "we'd rather this didn't cost anyone too much." And the Employment Relations Amendment Act, which came into force on 21 February 2026, created a shiny new category called a "specified contractor" — designed to keep drivers classified as contractors going forward, Supreme Court ruling or not. 🙄


So NOW: if you're one of the 900+ who's filed a claim, this is genuinely worth watching. If Uber has to actually pay out minimum wage and holiday pay backdated for years of driving, that's a real dent in their NZ books, and a real payday for drivers who've been grinding it out on contractor rates. Good on those drivers for pushing it through the ERA. 👏


FUTURE: this is where it gets grim. 😤 The government moved fast — suspiciously fast — to write a new law that boxes drivers back into contractor status from February 2026 onward, no matter what the Supreme Court found. So even if the current claims pay out, that's a one-off backward-looking win. Going forward, new and current drivers are being legislated straight back into "specified contractor" limbo, with none of the protections the Court said we were entitled to. Classic move — let the courts hand drivers a win, then quietly rewrite the law so it can't happen again. 🏛️


My take: this is POSITIVE for the drivers with claims already in — chase that money, it's owed. But it's NEGATIVE for NZ rideshare drivers as a whole, because the government has already closed the loophole for everyone else. Don't get comfortable thinking this sets a new standard — it doesn't, by design. 📉


Anyone had contact from the ERA or Workers First Union on this? Keen to hear how the claims process is actually going for people on the ground. 👇


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