Uber settles “industry-leading background check” class-action for $28.5M

Under the terms of the deal, which was filed last Thursday, Uber will now rename this charge as a “booking fee” and will alter its language accordingly. The settlement also states that Uber and its subsidiary “expressly deny the allegations” and admit no wrongdoing. The lawsuit alleged that “Uber does not and has never provided an “industry-leading background check process.” To the contrary, the background check process used by Uber does not use fingerprint identification and therefore cannot ensure that the information obtained from a background check actually pertains to the driver that submitted the information.” Passengers who used Uber in the US between January 1, 2013, and January 31, 2016 will likely be eligible to receive a portion of the settlement. However, if that pot is divided evenly amongst Uber’s 25 million passengers, each passenger will receive only around $1. “We are glad to put these cases behind us and we will continue to invest in new technology and great customer services so that we can help improve safety in the cities we serve,” Uber said in a statement after the settlement had been agreed. Despite the company publicly denouncing fingerprint background checks due to database inaccuracies and unfairness, Uber started testing the fingerprinting process on some of its drivers towards the end of last year. They also released a “Commitment to Safety” post on their website that indicated that the company would be looking into biometric and voice safety options for driver screening.  ]]>