The US Department of Justice has filed a double standard lawsuit against transportation network company Uber. So how did Uber respond to the allegations?
International transportation network company Uber has recently been on the agenda with a double standard lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice. As it is known, since 2016, the company charges an extra fee called waiting time, which starts 2 minutes after the driver arrives at the pick-up location of the passenger and until the journey begins.
But, according to Federal prosecutors, Uber is discriminating against its disabled customers who need more time to get into the vehicle at this point. Thus, the company is violating the US Disability Act by charging higher waiting time fees (ADA) from these customers.
Uber flatly denied the allegations
Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, said in a statement:
People with disabilities deserve equal access in all aspects of social life, including private transportation services provided by companies like Uber.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court of California, accuses the transportation network company of violating section 3 of the US Disability Act. At the same time, the Department of Justice aims for Uber to stop discrimination against people with disabilities, change its wait time fee policy, train staff and drivers, compensate those wrongfully charged wait time fees, and pay a fine.
Making statements on the subject, Uber flatly denied the claims that company policies violated the ADA. He stated that waiting time fees are definitely not designed for disabled customers. In addition, the following expressions were used:
We know that most of the disabled passengers prefer Uber for their transportation needs. For this reason, we had many meetings with the Ministry of Justice about our disabled customers before this case, which surprised and disappointed us greatly.
In addition, the company made some adjustments to its policies last week and announced that all waiting time fees received from customers who prove their disability with documents will be refunded.
That’s all the details about the lawsuit filed against Uber for now? So what do you think about this subject? Does Uber discriminate against its disabled customers? Do not forget to share your views with us in the comments section.
