A group of Yelp reviewers have filed a class action lawsuit in California claiming that they should be paid for their reviews like actual, professional writers.

According to the lawsuit, Yelp, the online urban city guide, has "devised a system of cult-like rewards and disciplines" to motivate writers in lieu of monetary compensation. The group of volunteer Yelpers are seeking "just compensation of wages, benefits, and reimbursement for the reviews they created," arguing that Yelp "could not exist, nor make its enormous returns, without its domination and control over non-wage writers."  The plaintiffs also claim the network of unpaid "employees" gives Yelp an unfair business advantage over its competitors.

In a published statement, Yelp claims, "the argument that voluntarily using a free service equates to an employment relationship is completely without merit."

—Source: techdirt.com