Uber was sued in 2014 for discriminating against blind people and their guide dogs and agreed to change that as part of a $ 2.6 million deal two years later. But, apparently, this did not happen entirely.
Uber will now pay an additional $ 1.1 million to a blind woman who said she missed work, a birthday party, mass on Christmas Eve and was left in the dark, in the rain and other humiliations because drivers Uber refused to carry her and her dog on 14 different occasions – several of which happened after Uber finalized its 2016 deal.
“Uber allowed drivers who discriminated against disabled motorcyclists to continue driving without discipline,” concluded a referee this week (via The San Francisco Chronicle)
This line from the referee’s report is also worth considering: “When Uber conducted an investigation, its investigators were trained, in some cases, to guide drivers to find non-discriminatory reasons for refusing to ride, sometimes even to ‘defend’ keep drivers on the platform despite complaints of discrimination. “
Lisa Irving, the woman, is suddenly not a millionaire, by the way. The arbitrator awarded her $ 324,000 in damages, with the remainder ($ 805,313) going to court costs, including attorney’s fees. She spoke to the Chronicle about your dog and your memories, including the one where a driver he did pick her up, then he was furious about having a dog in the car and threatened to leave them on the side of the road. She says she has been rejected at least 60 times.
Uber now has a dedicated support form for service animal issues. “Was a service animal denied?” is the first question. Here’s Uber’s service animals policy.
You can read the full decision of the referee below.