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Uber Plans Millions In Back Pay After Shorting NYC Drivers (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Uber Technologies Inc. said it underpaid its New York City drivers by improperly calculating the company's share of passenger fares, and will pay out an average of $900 per driver in restitution, costing tens of millions of dollars. The back pay could run at least $45 million, based on the approximately 50,000 drivers the Independent Drivers Guild says work in New York City. The ride-hailing company has previously misled drivers about how much they could make and miscalculated fares. In this case, Uber was taking its cut of fares based on the pretax sum, instead of after taxes and fees as stated in its terms of service. The issue was also raised in a lawsuit against San Francisco-based Uber filed by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. In March, Uber acknowledged that it had underestimated drivers' pay in Philadelphia by millions of dollars. "We are committed to paying every driver every penny they are owed -- plus interest -- as quickly as possible," Rachel Holt, Uber's head of U.S. operations, said in a statement. "We are working hard to regain driver trust, and that means being transparent, sticking to our word, and making the Uber experience better from end to end."
The technique commonly known as "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Watch those ubermenchen spend it all in one place.
Another Uber hate story brought to you by the fine people at Lyft and their corporate partner, GM. Give it up Lyft. No one is using you.
So this is a tax related fee adjustment issue, and isn't the "different path calculated for driver and passenger" fee issue reported on several times recently? How many other fee issues does Uber have?
"You're telling me, that a supermodel hit on you?" said George, shaking his head in disbelief,"How do you do that?"
"I didn't say she was a supermodel," said Jerry, he was holding a rolled up newspaper"But the option was certainly available to her."
"You're telling me that you were hit on by a woman who is so beautiful, she can choose whether or not she wants to be a supermodel or not!" cried out George,"Great, just great - why I can't have such luck is beyond me."
"Just listen," cried Jerry,"Is that so much to ask that you listen?"
"Oh, I can listen pal - I'm the king of the listeners. If they held a competition for best listener I wouldn't even enter - because I'm so assured of victory, it would ruin it for everyone else."
"You can sure talk for a listener."
"Haha, wiseguy."
The buzzer went of, Jerry walked over to it and held down the button,"Yeah?"
"It's me," came Elaine's voice.
"Come on up," he buzzed her in and opened the door.
"So anyway," he continued,"She walks up to me on the street and says to me 'Could you do me a favor and hold this paper for just a second, I'd be really grateful."
"Hang on," interrupted George,"How did she say 'really grateful'?"
"It was kind of a deep throaty 'promise of things to come' 'really grateful'"
"You're sure, she didn't have the flu?"
"No she didn't have the flu, now listen."
"I'm listening!"
"So I say 'no problem' and she walks inside the building, and I'm waiting, thinking about the great sex I could possibly be having......."
"Now see, I never do that, thinking about get's you all hyped up and you're bound to be disappointed in the end."
"What are you talking about? Fantasy doesn't build you up."
"It build's you up!"
"Just shut up and listen!" Jerry cried out.
"I'm listening!"
"So I'm waiting like five minutes......"
"Five minutes?"
"Five minutes, how long would you wait?"
"Well it depends on the person, but a woman as beautiful as that......at least till Christmas."
"Christmas?"
"Hey, for sex with a beautiful woman I think she at least deserves until Christmas."
"You're pathetic."
"Finish your story," said George,"I do have a date tonight you know."
"You love telling people that don't you?"
"You wanna tell the story or not?"
"Okay then, so I'm getting impatient and I look through the glass, and I see her hugging this guy!"
"What? she asked you to hold her paper, told you she'd be grateful and now she's hugging another guy?"
"Exactly, she's a temptress!" exclaimed Jerry,"I think she does it for thrills, leaves guy's hanging around outside in the cold for hours on end....."
"Five minutes."
"Okay, five minutes - hours on end, what's the difference?"
"I said that to my first girlfriend, believe me, it makes a difference."
"But can you believe it? She's in there hugging another guy."
"So what did you do?"
"I left."
"And the paper?"
Jerry smiled and held up the paper in his hand, "She'll have to buy a new paper for holding me up, my time is money!"
"What, a nickel a minute?"
"You're a real understanding guy you know that?"
Elaine stepped into the apartment, she slammed the door shut and stared at George and Jerry fiercely.
"Wow, aren't you a little Xena Warrior Princess here?" joked Jerry.
"You know, that Lucy Lawless is really attractive, I would like to go out with her," mused George.
"Are you kidding, you couldn't get Lucy Lawless," said Jerry.
"Why couldn't I get Lucy Lawless?"
"She's way too tall for you."
"You think?"
"I know."
Elaine shook her head and cried out,"Shut up, I have something to say here!"
"Tell George," said Jerry with a smile,"He's a great listener."
George smiled,"At least I don't steal papers from supermodels."
"
It seems Uber will always wait to be in court to consider laws as relevant for them.
So what Interest are they getting? The article mentions the average and total, but not how much interest they are making.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Funny how they never underestimate their cut.
...where you're beholden to one corporation for your work, have no benefits or statutory rights, and have to take legal action to get what you're owed. Meanwhile, politicians sit back and do little to nothing to address a systemic problem that has only political and legal solutions.
Uber acknowledged that it had underestimated drivers' pay in Philadelphia by millions of dollars...
Well, fuck uber. Why are they "estimating" driver's pay? It is right there on the (paper or electronic) receipt and does not require estimating at all. Oh, but it's uber so it's special?
Uber doesnt pay taxes, they are based in Luxembourg.
When the IRS classes there drivers as W2 they will have to employment taxes.
Uber seems to have screwed the pooch in just about every area possible lately. What is it, greed, ignorance or simply mendacity? All three?
Can't really be all that shocked to find out that a company that, when given a choice, ALWAYS chooses the shady path. Whether it's ignoring local laws, tracking officials, stealing trade secrets from competitors, or mistreating employees, the behavior of the company is a direct reflection of the character - or rather the lack of - flowing directly from its leadership. So sad to hear that little guys got screwed, again, but alas not any surprise. Just another day in Uber-land.
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.