Spotify to confront a lawsuit for employee mistreatment

The gigantic worldwide streaming platform Spotify has always seen its success, popularity and revenue grew over the years, becoming one of the most innovative and successful firms for music streaming in the world and the main go-to-site for any music listener. However, not everything seems to be as good it may seem, as Spotify is now facing a Class-Action lawsuit for apparently mistreating employees.

The person behind this demand is Californian Matthew Elias, who worked at the company for 2 years between 2016 and 2018. Apparently, he was a non-exempt employee, yet, he was allegedly treated and misclassified wrongly as an independent contractor. This mistake made him unable to enjoy of the benefits that a Spotify employee normally has, including overtime pay for workweeks above the 40 hours, rest breaks or meal breaks at the time he adds he was obliged to purchase ‘streaming services and cellular data services’ with his own money when these costs should have been borne by the firm. Almost 2 years after his departure from Spotify, Matthew is now filling this lawsuit not only in his name but also on behalf of ‘all others similarly situated and allegedly aggrieved’.

As far as Spotify is concerned, they haven’t released any statement on this matter, but have already taken action by requesting to move this case from a state to a federal court. The reason for that is simple. Even though the suit was filled in the District Court for the Central District of California, Spotify is registered in the state of Delaware. However, there is a more strategic meaning for this move. Due to the rise of companies like Uber, the state of California approved a brand new law this year to protect independent contractor from abuses by the companies. You can read more about this norm here. If this request is not successful, Spotify could be forced to pay important amounts of money that could escalate to ‘at least $110,086.40’ just for overtime wages.

Let’s see how this Spotify lawsuit evolves. In the meantime, make sure you follow us on social media and keep an eye on all updates!