(Bloomberg) — California's labor commissioner said an Uber Technologies Inc. driver must be considered an employee of the app-based ride service, which has been meeting resistance from regulators and cabbies as it seeks to expand worldwide.

The decision, which was filed in San Francisco state court Tuesday, is the latest threat to Uber's business model, which treats drivers as contractors rather than employees.

The ruling stemmed from a wage dispute with a former driver. San Francisco-based Uber, which provides mobile-phone applications to connect riders to rides, claimed the driver was an independent contractor and not entitled to recover claimed wages or expense reimbursement. The commissioner disagreed.

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