[bongobingo]

Uber is the client, not the person the driver picks up. The drivers are contractors, and they contract to Uber (or Lyft, etc) to do some job, in this case driving some person to a destination.

Each requested ride is a new job. The contractor can choose to not take that job, for any number of reasons.

The fact that the job has a set rate is not abnormal at all. The fact that the client will “punish” you for not being available is also not abnormal at all.

Additionally, the contractors are able to work whenever they want, wherever they want, and for whichever companies they want.

The only real oddity here is that the contract work is dependent on the ride sharing companies. There should be an additional classification for dependent contractors. These drivers are definitely not employees, under any definition.