The Gig Economy: Liability of Uber for the Conduct of Drivers

Running head: THE GIG ECONOMY
The Gig Economy
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Author Note

1THE GIG ECONOMY
Inter-Office Memo
To:
From:
Date:
Subject: The Gig Economy
Summary Statement
The contractual or non-contractual relationship between the principle and the agent to
enter into a legal relation with the third party on behalf of the principal is regulated by the
principles of agency. In such a situation, the agent is allowed to make transaction on behalf of
the principal. As decided in the case of Harris v Knutson 35 Wis. 2d 567 (1967), the agent is
entrusted with the authority to promote the interest of the other party that is the principal.
Based on this principle, the principal can be considered as an employer, but not in every
cases. Agents are not always deemed as an employees that provides the rationale for the term
‘principal.’
As per the principle of agency, actual express authority provides that the principal
and the agent enters into an explicit agreement to participate in a given action as directed by
the principal (Fong & Li, 2017). For example, Uber has an agreement with the drivers to
specifically pick up and drop their customer from one place to another. An actual implied
authority refers to a principle when the principal enters into an agreement with the agent that
the agent, although not exactly authorised by the principal, may take action on certain issue,
based on the believe that the authority for taking that action has been delegated by the
principal to him. According to the principles of agency, apparent authority is when the
principal has an agreement with the third party and not with the agent. For instance, if Uber