Uber on Thursday said it rejected a ruling from a Brazilian labour court ordering the ride-hailing firm to pay 1bn reais (about R3.9bn) in fines for irregular working relations with the drivers on its app.
The sentence, handed down by a Sao Paulo state court, also ordered Uber to recognise its employment relationships with all its app's drivers and register their professional work cards, with a penalty of 10,000 reais (about R39,000) for each unregistered worker.
The lawsuit, filed in November 2021 with Brazil's public prosecutor's office, accused the company of controlling the way in which professionals' activities should be carried out, "which constitutes an employment relationship".
Uber said it will appeal the decision and will not adopt any of the measures listed in the sentence before all applicable resources have been exhausted.
"There is evident legal uncertainty," it said in a statement, citing legal precedents involving other companies such as delivery platforms Lalamove, Loggi and Ifood, and taxi app 99.
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