Uber to appeal Brazil court's $205 million fine for irregular labor relations

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Uber on Thursday said it rejected a ruling from a Brazilian labor court ordering the ride-hailing firm to pay 1 billion reais ($205 million) 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 recognize its employment relationships with all its app's drivers and register their professional work cards, with a penalty of 10,000 reais 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.

($1 = 4.8677 reais)

(Reporting by Andre Romani; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Leslie Adler)