Uber to pay $10 million over driver background checks

ABC 7 News. The lawsuit, filed in 2014, said that Uber falsely claimed its criminal screening of would-be drivers was the most comprehensive available. San Francisco and Los Angeles prosecutors sued, saying Uber’s background checks were inferior to what taxi drivers undergo because they did not include fingerprint checks for past convictions. According to a settlement agreement dated April 7, 2016, Uber is required to pay “$10 million sixty (60) days after the stipulated judgment, with $5 million for the City and County of San Francisco and $5 million for the County of Los Angeles. An additional $15 million – $7.5 million to San Francisco and $7.5 million to Los Angeles – shall be paid if it is determined that Uber failed to fully comply with the stipulated judgment. Originally, the district attorneys also filed a claim against Lyft, another ride-hailing company. Lyft settled its case last year by agreeing to pay $250,000 and stop claiming its background checks were among the industry’s best. Uber did not admit wrongdoing and said it already has made many changes prosecutors sought. For example, Uber stopped claiming its background checks were “industry leading” when it settled a separate case brought by riders. Under that $28.5 million settlement reached in February, Uber also renamed its “safe ride fee” as a “booking fee.” 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.]]>