Uber, Lyft told to pay back drivers in $328 M settlement; AG says cheated drivers are mostly immigrants

Eligible drivers are urged to file their claims with the Attorney General’s office at www. ag.ny.gov/lyft-uber-settlement. Photo: Unsplash

New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced two landmark settlements totaling $328 million with rideshare companies Uber and Lyft for cheating drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The settlements resolve multi-year investigations into Uber and Lyft, which found that the companies’ policies withheld hard-earned pay from drivers and prevented them from receiving valuable benefits available under New York labor laws.

The settlements announced will return $328 million in back pay to drivers and institute a minimum driver “earnings floor,” paid sick leave, proper hiring and earnings notices, and other improvements in drivers’ working conditions. Uber will pay $290 million and Lyft will pay $38 million into two separate settlement funds which will be entirely distributed to current and former drivers.

Eligible drivers can file a claim to receive the funds they are owed. Notices concerning the distribution will be delivered to drivers by mail, email and/or text message. Information on the submission, review, and distribution of claims is also available on the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) website

“Rideshare drivers work at all hours of the day and night to take people wherever they need to go,” said Attorney General James. “For years, Uber and Lyft systematically cheated their drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars in pay and benefits while they worked long hours in challenging conditions. These drivers overwhelmingly come from immigrant communities and rely on these jobs to provide for their families. These settlements will ensure they finally get what they have rightfully earned and are owed under the law. My office will continue to make sure that companies operating in the so-called ‘gig economy’ do not deprive workers of their rights or undermine the laws meant to protect them.” 

From 2014 to 2017, Uber deducted sales taxes and Black Car Fund fees from drivers’ payments when those taxes and fees should have been paid by passengers. Uber misrepresented the deductions made to drivers’ pay in their terms of service, telling drivers that Uber would only deduct its commission from the drivers’ fare, and that drivers were “entitled to charge [the passenger] for any tolls, taxes or fees incurred,” though no method to do this was ever provided via the Uber Driver app. Lyft employed a similar method to shortchange drivers from 2015 to 2017, deducting a 11.4 percent “administrative charge” from drivers’ payments in New York equal to the amount of sales tax and Black Car Fund fees that should have been paid by riders. Uber and Lyft also failed to provide drivers with paid sick leave available to employees under New York City and New York state law. 

“We are thrilled that our members won this historic victory to recover their stolen income,” said New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) Executive Director Bhairavi Desai. “For years, our union has been fighting to recover stolen wages for New York City Uber and Lyft drivers who were cheated out of better living conditions, timely meals, rest, and leisure.”



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