Uber drivers suffered a significant defeat in one of many gig economy’s most intently watched labour fights with a ruling barring a whole bunch of 1000’s of drivers from suing as a group for better pay and benefits.

Tuesday’s determination by a federal appeals court in San Francisco wasn’t surprising after the US Supreme Court in May bolstered the ability of employers to power employees to make use of particular person arbitration as an alternative of class-action lawsuits.

A lawyer for the drivers vowed to keep fighting Uber’s enterprise model – frequent in the sharing economy – that classifies drivers as contractors as an alternative of workers.

“1000’s of drivers have already signed up for particular person arbitration,” Shannon Liss-Riordan stated in an emailed statement. “If Uber desires to resolve these disputes one after the other, we’re prepared to try this – one after the other.”

Uber spokesperson Matt Kallman stated the company is happy with the court’s decision.

Liss-Riordan sued Uber in 2013 and the case grew to symbolize as many as 385 000 present and former drivers in California and Massachusetts when a San Francisco judge granted class-action status.

However in 2016, simply weeks after the judge rejected a $100m settlement of the suit, the San Francisco appeals court ruled in a different case that Uber’s arbitration agreements with drivers are largely legitimate and enforceable. The same panel determined Tuesday’s appeal, also in Uber’s favour.

Alongside the best way, the Uber drivers lost the federal government as an ally when the Trump administration withdrew support filed on their behalf by the National Labour Relations Board in the course of the Obama administration.

The Trump administration stated the board’s earlier place was “not sustainable” beneath the May Supreme Court ruling.