Dive Brief:

• Could the world wake up one morning and find ride-hailing service Uber struck dead, shackled to hundreds of thousands of drivers that have suddenly been deemed expensive employees?
• That's the question an article at Forbes asks in the wake the recent California decision that Uber drivers are employees, not independent contractors.
• According to the article, the ruling was called by various media outlets Uber’s “worst nightmare,” a bad omen that “should frighten” and “blasts a big hole in” all contractor-based businesses. 

Dive Insight:

Well, not really. A legal decision that could instantly cripple Uber would be years off and would likely only apply to part of its operations. In the meantime, Uber would have time to lobby for new regulations or tweak its business model to stay afloat, according to legal experts.

The Uber case will now go through San Francisco trial court, and then if that is appealed, it will go through the court of appeals — a process that could take one and a half to two years total, labor attorney David Rosenfeld told Forbes. Also, Uber is appealing a ruling from a Florida agency that said a driver is an employee.

For anyone managing HR within a "sharing economy"-type employer, it's way too early to panic. While Uber certainly would rather have had the California decision go their way, the legal process is far from over.