Lyft to halt its ride services in California starting at midnight

On Thursday, Lyft Inc. announced that it would halt its ride-hailing services in California at the end of the day. The move came after the U.S. court granted a preliminary injunction last week requiring the carpooling company to reclassify drivers as employees rather than independent contractors.

“This is not something we wanted to do, as we know millions of Californians depend on Lyft for daily, essential trips,” the company posted on its website.

The lawsuit was filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the city attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco under a new California law. It was stated that companies could only classify workers as contractors if they would perform their jobs “outside the usual course” of their business.

“For multiple years, we’ve been advocating for a path to offer benefits to drivers who use the Lyft platform — including a minimum earnings guarantee and a healthcare subsidy — while maintaining the flexibility and control that independent contractors enjoy. This is something drivers have told us over and over again that they want. Instead, what Sacramento politicians are pushing is an employment model that 4 out of 5 drivers don’t support. This change would also necessitate an overhaul of the entire business model — it’s not a switch that can be flipped overnight,” Lyft stated on its company page.