Uber used phrases such as “safest ride on the road” and “industry-leading background checks” but did not check Uber drivers against the national sex-offender registry or employ fingerprint identification, the lawsuits alleged. “That’s why it’s important to ensure that the language we use to describe safety at Uber is clear and precise”.
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As part of the settlement, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, the San Francisco company will change the language of its safety-related advertising and stop using the term “Safe Ride Fee”.
As part of the settlement, Uber has agreed to stop referring to the small fee (which varies in price from $1 to $2 market to market) riders must pay in addition to its fare as a “safe ride fee”; Instead, the company will describe it as a “booking fee”.
The $28.5 million settlement will be split evenly among about 25 million riders after attorneys’ fees, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, Uber is preparing to go to trial this summer in a class action lawsuit that claims the company illegally denied its drivers the benefits of employment – such as minimum wage and reimbursement for work expenses – by classifying them as independent contractors.
The proposed settlement, which must be reviewed by a judge before becoming final, covers all Uber customers – including its foreign users – who took a ride in a U.S.-based Uber service between January 1, 2013, and January 31, 2016.
The cases are Philliben v. Uber Technologies, Inc. and Mena v. Uber Technologies, Inc. Outside of India – where an Uber driver raped a passenger past year – Uber has yet to roll out an “SOS” button that immediately directs a rider’s call to local authorities. Its rival, Lyft, also quietly re-named its “Trust and Safety Fee” to “Trust and Service Fee” after being sued in San Diego Superior Court for a similar reason.
Uber lets customers use smartphone applications to summon and pay for rides provided by drivers using their own cars.
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If approved, those represented in the class action suits will get a choice to have their shares of the settlement money paid to credit cards or Uber accounts. As a result, the “safe rides fee” Uber charged for every ride was considered unjust.
