Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is pressuring Uber to immediately release from arbitration agreements victims of sexual misconduct by the company’s drivers who are looking to take action in court and end its practice of requiring users to agree to pursue claims against the company in arbitration rather than court in order to use Uber’s services.
“Claims subject to forced arbitration are relegated to private forums where powerful defendants can stack the deck against claimants and cover up wrongdoing,” Blumenthal wrote in a letter to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on Wednesday. “Many potential claimants respond to this prospect by declining to file claims in the first place, leaving bad conduct undeterred.”
The Connecticut senator said that when a corporation like Uber inserts forced arbitration clauses into its terms of service, consumers “lack a meaningful opportunity to understand and object before they give away their right to access the justice system.”
“As a result, consumers are denied their day in court and powerful corporations are able to endanger the public without fear of being held accountable by those they harm,” Blumenthal said.
The senator’s letter stems from a CNN report that found in the last four years, at least 103 Uber drivers in the U.S. were accused of sexual assault or sexual abuse by passengers.
Uber is currently facing a class action lawsuit filed by nine plaintiffs who say they were raped, assaulted, sexually harassed, or kidnapped by drivers. The company, though, wants the women to pursue the case through arbitration, citing its legal terms of service.
Under Uber’s user agreement, which includes a section titled “Arbitration Agreement,” a customer is “required to resolve any claim that you may have against Uber on an individual basis in arbitration.”
The terms preclude customers from bringing class, collective, or representative action against the company, and prevent customers from “participating in or recovering relief” under current or future class actions brought against Uber.
The arbitration agreement detailed in its legal terms of service states a customer and Uber “agree that any dispute, claim or controversy arising out of or relating to” the terms of service or the customer’s access to or use of Uber’s services “will be settled by binding arbitration between you and Uber, and not in a court of law.”
Last week, 14 women who said they were victims of sexual misconduct by their Uber driver sent the company’s board of directors an open letter asking to be released from the company’s arbitration provision.
Blumenthal cited the letter from the women, as well as a call from a former Uber employee to waive forced arbitration agreements, in his own push for Uber to take action.
“I challenge you to finally demonstrate how seriously you take the issue of sexual harassment and assault,” he said in the letter to Khosrowshahi. “Your company must lead by example and show that it values transparency and your users’ safety more than your company’s bottom line.”
In response to the request from the former Uber employee to waive the forced arbitration agreements, Khosrowshahi tweeted in March he would “take a look” at the suggestion and “take it seriously.”
