Uber investor’s suit alleges rider safety took a back seat to the gig-work model

• A new lawsuit takes aim at Uber’s CEO and board over thousands of rider sexual assault claims.
• The shareholder lawsuit says that Uber cut corners “in the name of growing the company.”
• Uber said the lawsuit “ignores important facts and is based on misleading, false narratives.”

Uber is facing another lawsuit over sexual assault — one that puts the blame on the company’s board and C-suite.

The complaint by a minority Uber investor, Detroit’s Police and Fire Retirement System, alleges that the company “knowingly cut compliance corners in the name of growing the company.”

Uber is facing thousands of claims that its drivers sexually assaulted passengers. The shareholder complaint filed in a California federal court on Monday takes aim at Uber’s management, including CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and members of the company’s board of directors, accusing them of not doing enough to address the assault allegations.

“Uber faces significant liability in defending these suits and responding to inquiries, in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars at stake,” the complaint reads. “Uber has also seen its reputation irredeemably damaged by the negative ongoing media coverage of the wrongdoing.”

An Uber spokesperson said that the lawsuit “ignores important facts and is based on misleading, false narratives from other meritless lawsuits that we have already addressed publicly and in the courtroom.”

Uber has said that safety incidents are “exceptionally rare” on its app, and that the company is “constantly working to make every trip safer.”

The lawsuit says that Khosrowshahi, who succeeded Travis Kalanick as Uber’s CEO in 2017, “made cosmetic changes to Uber’s compliance practices and workplace culture, and became less brazen in pushing regulatory limits.”

“But Uber’s culture of prioritizing cost-cutting measures meant that it continued to skimp on compliance or even seek to tamp down on complaints,” the complaint says.

At odds with Uber’s gig-work model

The lawsuit claims Uber knew sexual assault and misconduct were persistent problems on its platform, yet failed to adopt measures that employees believed could reduce harm.

For example, the complaint alleges that Uber considered safety initiatives, including in-car cameras, more rigorous background checks, and programs that would better match women riders and drivers. Uber either implemented these proposals after delays or rejected them, the suit says.

Uber studied adding in-car cameras to its drivers’ vehicles around 2017, for instance, and “found the plan to be feasible, cost-effective, likely to reduce the incidence of misconduct, and help drivers,” the lawsuit says.

The company declined to add cameras to cars “because it would mean exercising greater control over drivers’ activities, weakening Uber’s argument that its drivers are independent contractors,” the complaint states. Uber drivers are paid per trip or task and do not receive benefits, such as healthcare, that employees usually receive.

The suit points to thousands of sexual-assault lawsuits filed against Uber and alleges that the board caused “Uber to engage in unlawful conduct.” As a result, the plaintiffs argue, Uber now faces litigation costs, regulatory scrutiny, and lasting reputational damage stemming from years of inadequate oversight.

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