On Tuesday, October 28th, civil rights organizations and taxi driver unions jointly released a new report pointing out that the two major ride-hailing companies in New York City, Uber and Lyft, are arbitrarily deactivating drivers without prior notice, depriving hard-working individuals of their livelihoods.
According to the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), a survey of 350 Uber and Lyft drivers found that 70% of Uber drivers and 76% of Lyft drivers were deactivated without any advance notice. In many cases, these companies denied drivers any meaningful chance to respond; even when drivers filed complaints, over 90% of them were permanently deactivated.
During a virtual press conference, a man named Saif Aizah shared his experience, stating that since being unfairly deactivated by Uber, he was forced to solely drive for Lyft, resulting in a 50% decrease in his income.
“I am really struggling now. After the pandemic, I can’t afford rent, it’s difficult to pay off my car loan and insurance, I’m on the verge of bankruptcy,” Aizah said. “My health is deteriorating, all I can think about is how to pay bills day and night; worse still, due to these unfair deactivations, I can’t support my family, I don’t know how to face my children, unfair deactivation has brought tremendous economic instability to my life, making my life unbearable.”
The so-called “forced deactivation” refers to Uber or Lyft unilaterally shutting off the driver’s account on their smartphone or computer application, preventing them from logging into the app, thereby losing the opportunity to work.
“The survey results are shocking,” the report stated, “The majority of drivers deactivated were long-term high-performing employees, with excellent ratings and no records of misconduct. However, without warning, their accounts were suddenly locked, cutting off their income.”
This newspaper received a tip-off from a Chinese driver, who mentioned a case of an experienced Uber driver who was recently abruptly cut off from the application without warning, and when inquired, the company said a passenger complained of “harassment.” This left the driver perplexed, unable to recall any instance of “harassment” towards passengers.
This case is also reflected in the report released on Tuesday. The investigation revealed that both Uber and Lyft frequently halt the app citing vague “customer complaints,” without providing specific dates, details, or evidence; a considerable number of affected drivers never had the opportunity to review or refute the allegations before losing account access.
Bhairavi Desai, the President of NYTWA, stated during the press conference that this report is significant, representing a sample that “illustrates how pervasive this issue is for drivers.”
“On one hand, the compensation for each trip for drivers is inadequate, considering that these large companies extract the maximum share from customer payments,” she said. “On the other hand, job security for drivers is also affected.”
Councilman Shekar Krishnan introduced his legislation, Intro.276, during the press conference. The bill aims to ensure that drivers who are deactivated have the right to appeal through a fair process.
“Currently, Uber and Lyft act as the ‘prosecutors,’ ‘judges,’ and ‘juries’ in these cases,” Councilman Krishnan said, “This is why passing bill number 276 is so crucial… because it’s about creating a fundamental due process, a right that is enshrined in our legal system, one that people face in various other circumstances, including in the employment sector.”
This newspaper reached out to Uber and Lyft for comments.