Slashdot Mirror
12,000 Uber Drivers Claim Uber Is Now Failing To Pay Arbitration Fees (reuters.com)
Uber's terms of service prohibit its drivers from joining class action lawsuits, Gizmodo writes, adding that over 12,000 drivers have now "found a way to weaponize the ridesharing platform's restrictive contract in what's possibly the funniest labor strategy of the year."
An anonymous reader summarizes their report: Uber's contract requires that all driver lawsuits be arbitrated (instead of argued in open court), but "While arbitrating parties are responsible for paying for their own attorneys, the terms state that 'in all cases where required by law, [Uber] will pay the Arbitrator's and arbitration fees'... A group of 12,501 drivers opted to take Uber at its word, individually bringing their cases up for arbitration, overwhelming the infrastructure...." (Gizmodo calls it Uber's arbitration policy "coming back to bite it in the ass.") A petition in California's Northern District Court points out that Uber now is apparently overwhelmed. "Of those 12,501 demands, in only 296 has Uber paid the initiating filing fees necessary for an arbitration to commence [...] only 47 have appointed arbitrators, and [...] in only six instances has Uber paid the retainer fee of the arbitrator to allow the arbitration to move forward."
The drivers' lawyers are now complaining that Uber's delinquincies "make clear it does not actually support arbitration; rather, it supports avoiding any method of dispute resolution, no matter the venue... At this point, it is fair to ask whether Uber's previous statements to the 9th Circuit about its desire to facilitate arbitration with its drivers were nothing more than empty promises to avoid litigating a class action."
An anonymous reader summarizes their report: Uber's contract requires that all driver lawsuits be arbitrated (instead of argued in open court), but "While arbitrating parties are responsible for paying for their own attorneys, the terms state that 'in all cases where required by law, [Uber] will pay the Arbitrator's and arbitration fees'... A group of 12,501 drivers opted to take Uber at its word, individually bringing their cases up for arbitration, overwhelming the infrastructure...." (Gizmodo calls it Uber's arbitration policy "coming back to bite it in the ass.") A petition in California's Northern District Court points out that Uber now is apparently overwhelmed. "Of those 12,501 demands, in only 296 has Uber paid the initiating filing fees necessary for an arbitration to commence [...] only 47 have appointed arbitrators, and [...] in only six instances has Uber paid the retainer fee of the arbitrator to allow the arbitration to move forward."
The drivers' lawyers are now complaining that Uber's delinquincies "make clear it does not actually support arbitration; rather, it supports avoiding any method of dispute resolution, no matter the venue... At this point, it is fair to ask whether Uber's previous statements to the 9th Circuit about its desire to facilitate arbitration with its drivers were nothing more than empty promises to avoid litigating a class action."
I'm so glad I am not an Uber driver. No arbitration for me!
empty promises to avoid litigating a class action.
Exactly this, cutting off your nose to spite your face. Uber is responsible for several instances of major litigation, protest, documented evasion of law enforcement, sexual harassment, and offshore tax havens. Uber is also the most over-valued turd in this gig-economy race to the bottom, and at fifteen billion dollars in assets expects to release an IPO in 2019. Now its actively refusing to pay for the arbitration clauses it insisted upon?
If the IPO drops in 2019 its going to be hard to really justify why anyone bought the stock. Uber is basically a ponzi scheme with an advanced misery clause.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Have other taxi companies done this and if so, what was the final outcome? Did their drivers get paid or was the clause removed to allow for class action lawsuits?
this is basically a mass protest against Uber's arbitration process. 12,000 Uber employees (I refuse to call them contractors, they're not) all triggered the arbitration clause at once. Uber wanted control of the arbitration process so they could cheat, so they offered to pay all costs. The employees are actually pretty well organized on various forums. The reason they don't have any power is that workers lack solidarity, so they don't have a teamsters Union to give them money for food/rent while they strike, giving most of the actual power to Uber. But they noticed this clever little problem with Uber's contract.
I say more power to them. This is a win/win for the employees either way. Uber probably doesn't want to lose 12,000 drivers at once (though I suspect they could get by). So a mass firing probably isn't in the cards just yet. If they don't pay the fees the arbitration clause becomes null & void, leading to class action. But if they do pay they're probably out at least $12 million, which won't look good on the old balance sheet. Plus if this works they'll do it again.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
This is an interesting, but Uber will just rewrite their contract and force it on their drivers to put a stop to it.
The scary part about arbitration, is the qualifications of the arbitrators used. The arbitrator could technically render any decision they please, even if it is contrary to law and court precedent. They then drive over to a real court of law and record the judgement against the losing party (Which is predominately the employee). There is no way to appeal.
I'm hoping California comes down like a ton of bricks on workplace arbitration, but it it going to be challenging given recent court decisions. One idea I have is to surtax companies which require employees to arbitrate, and use the funds to create an oversight agency which licences arbitrators.
I work for one of those strip mall tax services during the tax season as a preparer. (Gotta pay for that BS CS!)
Every Uber and Lyft driver loses money when I'm done with the Schedule C. They pat me on the back and think I'm a genius for "creating" a loss for them to offset their other income, but I protest and say, "No, you are really losing money."
WHOOOSHHH! They think I'm BS'ing because of a "loop-hole" or something.
You guessed it, those are the ones who have only been doing for a year or so or less. .... come due, it sinks in that it isn't worth it.
When the bills for the oil changes, tires, timing belts, etc
OH! If the insurance company finds out that you're an Uber driver, guess what happens if you're in an accident and you don't have the additional coverage!
The other money losers are the owner operator truck drivers. BAD DEAL.
hop into an Uber and you put your life into the hands of a legal system that is unassailable, unlawful and unresponsive.
Worst case...passenger hospitalized in Hawaii riding in back of Uber when rear ended. Driver not at fault. Uber told passenger to go fuck herself. She got nothing more than her money refunded on the incomplete fare. She has not only the physical ramifications from the accident but the psychological as well. She thought Uber was a company. Its a software developer.
Woke yet? Uber doesn't own taxi's, doesn't hire drivers and doesn't have users. Driver partners on the Uber software platform do.
And if Uber preferred their workers to unionize, they would have a single party to negotiate and settle with.
Uber doesn't care about its drivers, the whole business model was created as a scam to circumvent standard taxi regulations and poise Uber and Lyft for that matter as ride share finders. Hopefully the law catches up to these companies and puts them out of business.
The other money losers are the owner operator truck drivers. BAD DEAL.
The rest of your comment sounded like nonsense just based on quick back of he envelope math, but I wasn't ready to call bullshit until I got to this point. You have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. I had a couple trucker buddies who saved every penny they could to buy their own truck; they made an absolute killing afterwards. The smart one then saved all the money he made driving his own truck and bought several more trucks for others to drive for him. Today the cars sitting in his garage are worth more than my entire house.
I see their BOOKS. I actually KNOW.
is that it's a payday loan where the interest and fees are the miles on your car. The folks I've talked to who drive Uber are doing it to make rent. With one exception they've all been people who were either recently laid off or took a massive paycut after a buyout. Uber is all about taking advantage of desperate, formally middle class Americans who still have the car from when they were gainfully employed.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
He's talking about these guys.
TL;DR; California put a bunch of new pollution guidelines in place to force trucking Co's to upgrade their fleets. The regulations went in effect right when the economy tanked. Instead of buying a new fleet they forced the drivers (now desperate for any kind of work because the economy was in free fall) into phony "leases" where they were essentially working for free by earning less money than it cost to maintain the truck.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Uber should be sued out of existence. EOL.
Uber's business model only works when people drive for Uber and nobody's being forced to drive for Uber. If every Uber driver took a vacation week off at once, it would probably change Uber's behavior. If Uber's terms are unacceptable, don't drive for Uber. Drive for Lyft, or find another part-time job. Modern crony capitalism has two sides, and the only real power workers have is to leave.
I only pick up fares on my commute to/from my real job (which is 31 miles away) So far I get like 6 a week, and it adds about 5 minutes total to my commute. Each fare nets me $20, so I end up gaining at least $120 weekly for half an hour total extra driving.
The simplest cause of action here is breach of contract. Uber is in breach of the arbitration clause in their contract.
Why the fuck is Uber allowed to even exist. They blatantly ignore the law. Other defend them by say "the laws or rules make no sense, or need to be modernized!" OK so that's when you petition for those rules/laws to be changed.
I hope the company crashes and burns and their top execs are thrown in prison for this shit.
For how much out-of-pocket money and time?
Yeah, if you're real good you might get awarded costs - ten years down the line. Jolly good luck with that.
AC
Checkmate.
Because people have a hive mind, and everyone can afford to pass up money for a few weeks to show some megacorp who's boss.
I have to thumb up this one..!
Nope. Arbitration is FINAL. There are NO appeals unless the arbitration procedure was not followed.
It's entirely LEGAL for the arbitrator to be bribed, have conflicts of interest or decide a case by tossing a coin. There is NO legal recourse against it.
Yes, it's seriously that bad.