Court Overturns First Instance Ruling: "'Tada' Drivers Are Employees"

The court has ruled that the Central Labor Commission's decision to recognize drivers of the vehicle call service 'Tada' as workers was justified.

Tada vehicle / Photo by Asia Economy DB

The Seoul High Court Administrative Division 7 (Presiding Judges Kim Dae-woong, Kim Sang-cheol, Bae Sang-won) overturned the first-instance ruling that had favored the plaintiff and ruled against the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by SoCar, the parent company of VCNC, the operator of Tada, against the Central Labor Commission on the grounds of "cancelling the retrial decision on unfair dismissal relief" on the 21st.

VCNC, which operated Tada by signing freelance contracts with drivers, notified about 70 drivers including Mr. A of contract termination in July 2019, stating that it was inevitable to reduce the number of vehicles. In response, Mr. A applied to the Labor Commission for relief from unfair dismissal, claiming that he was effectively a worker under VCNC's direction and supervision but was unilaterally dismissed.

When the Central Labor Commission recognized SoCar as the employer and ruled the contract termination as unfair dismissal, accepting Mr. A's application, SoCar filed an administrative lawsuit in objection.

The first trial ruled in favor of SoCar, stating, "It is difficult to consider the plaintiff, Mr. A, who was a Tada driver, as being in the position of an employee of the employer, and it is also difficult to see that Mr. A provided labor for wages under a subordinate relationship." This was the court's first judgment on whether Tada drivers should be regarded as workers.

However, the second trial dismissed SoCar's claim and judged that the Central Labor Commission's decision to accept Mr. A's application for relief from unfair dismissal was justified.