Judge orders New York to pay unemployment to Uber and Lyft drivers

"Since 2016, the New York Department of Labor has held that ride-hail drivers were employees for purposes of unemployment insurance. But Uber and Lyft have dragged their feet, failing to provide wage data that would enable the agency to calculate unemployment payments for each worker."

So they have to consider them employees for purposes of insurance but seem to not have fully complied in the first place.