A ruling from a federal judge stated that the Big Apple cannot prohibit ridesharing apps like Lyft from deactivating drivers from their app without giving them advanced notice.
Aside from the issue of being tagged as independent contractors, another big issue that ridesharing drivers face is the possibility of getting deactivated from the apps without informing them in advance, like getting deactivated or banned on Instagram before you even know it.
In a written ruling earlier this week, United States District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan said that the city’s law adopted early in 2026 benefits a small fraction of drivers while interfering with the ridesharing companies’ right to police the safety of their platforms.
Woods pointed out, "Uber and Lyft are likely to succeed in showing that the law protects a narrow class of drivers and does not advance the broader social or economic interest which the U.S. Constitution requires to permit the severe impairment of their contracts.”
The judge then issued a preliminary injunction that blocked New York City from implementing the law, supposed to take effect this July 28th, pending the outcome of consolidated lawsuits that the companies filed last June.
The ridesharing companies are very pleased with the decision. Particularly, Lyft stated that they are “pleased the court recognized the serious safety concerns at the heart of this challenge, and that “the opinion underscores that driver fairness and rider safety can and must go hand in hand.”
Of course, the New York City Law Department, which would supposed to offer hands on the implementation, has not spoken about this, as of this time of research and writing.
The blocked law, one of the first of its kind in the United States, was passed last January following the New York City Council overwhelmingly overriding a veto by former Democrat Mayor Eric Adams. He stated that this law would create an expensive and unwieldy new bureaucracy to handle wrongful deactivation claims.
It would also give drivers unfair freedom to commit mistakes when they want to. Oops. Yes, it would be unfair for the ridesharing companies, so the fight of the drivers persists.
If the law would be implemented, ridesharing apps like Lyft must give drivers two-week notice before deactivating them from the app, except if there’s an “egregious misconduct,” and potentially rehire drivers deactivated since 2019 solely because they did not receive such notice.
In June, Uber and Lyft also filed lawsuits saying that the law violates their due process and free speech rights under the Constitution. They also claimed that the law threatened to undermine the credibility, reputation, and goodwill while keeping unsafe drivers, including those accused of harassment on the road.
The judge declared the law unconstitutional. For more ridesharing news, keep it locked right here on the RSF site.