Lyft spokesperson Shadawn Reddick-Smith provided a statement describing the report as “fundamentally flawed” and not based in fact. “Lyft takes passenger and driver safety reports seriously, reviews them and investigates to determine the appropriate course of action,” the statement said.
The AAAJ-ALC survey found that a quarter of drivers received poor reviews from customers when implementing COVID safety policies. Jordan believes his wave of complaints may be partly due to a conflict between Uber’s company policies, which required drivers and passengers to continue to wear face masks, and California state policies , which lifted the requirement to wear masks on March 1, 2022. And he, like nearly half of those surveyed, wonder if his race played a role in the negative ratings that led to his deactivation.
“One of the problems here is that customer reviews, or complaints or ratings, are completely unmonitored,” says Winifred Kao, senior attorney at AAAJ-ALC, pointing out that many drivers don’t even know about the nature allegations against them and I have not had the opportunity to respond. “I think what we found here with the investigation is that rideshare drivers were particularly exposed and vulnerable to this type of discrimination, bias, harassment and retaliation from customers.”
Despite the power that Lyft, Uber, Doordash, and many other delivery and rideshare companies have over drivers’ access to customers and work, drivers are not employees, but independent contractors. In November 2020, California passed Proposition 22, a law that codifies this status. At the time, the Los Angeles Times reported that concert platforms invested more than $200 million in an advertising campaign in favor of the law (a California court struck down the law, but Uber and Lyft appealed the decision).
Several other drivers in the survey said they faced incidents of bias and discrimination from customers, including verbal abuse and sexual harassment, but that companies offered them little support. Only 3 percent of those surveyed said their complaints were adequately investigated.
“The drivers are alone in their car with the passengers, and some passengers feel free to let themselves go in this kind of context,” explains Kao. “And not only are companies failing to properly investigate or protect workers from this type of abuse, they are also relying on unvetted customer reviews and complaints. »
Jordan said that after driving 60 to 80 hours a week for Uber for over 5 years, he found it difficult to adjust to another job and struggled to recover financially. “I had maxed out my credit cards and was in survival mode,” he says. “I’m still trying to get my bearings.”
Updated 2/28/2023, 6:40 p.m. EST: This article has been updated to add a comment from Lyft.
Updated 2/28/2023, 1:30 p.m. EST: This article has been corrected to clarify that Uber has an appeals process available through its app.
