In November, the DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging that Uber began charging wait time fees in several cities across the country in 2016, but did not change the policy for those with disabilities who needed more than two minutes to get into their cars.
According to the DOJ, as part of a two-year settlement agreement, Uber pledged to waive fees for all passengers who certify that they or someone they frequently travel with requires more time to enter a vehicle due to a disability.
According to the DOJ, the ride-hailing company will also credit the accounts of more than 65,000 eligible riders for more than double the amount of wait time fees they were charged, which could amount to hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.
People with disabilities "should not be treated as second-class citizens or punished as a result of their disability," said Kristen Clark, the Department of Justice's assistant attorney general for civil rights, in a statement.
According to Uber spokesperson Carissa Simons, the company is "pleased with the agreement," and it has "long been our policy to refund wait time fees for riders with disabilities when they alerted us that they were charged."
A Big Amount
According to the DOJ, Uber agreed to pay $1,738,500 to more than 1,000 riders with disabilities who complained to Uber about the fees, as well as $500,000 to other individuals identified by the department.
When the DOJ first filed its lawsuit, it noted that blind passengers may require additional time to safely walk to a car, while others may require time to disassemble a wheelchair and store it in the vehicle. The department requested that Uber change its policy of charging wait fees to disabled passengers, educate staff and drivers about the Americans with Disabilities Act, and compensate those who had been forced to pay the fees. At the time, Uber disputed the lawsuit, claiming in a statement to Forbes that the company refunded wait fees for disabled riders "whenever they alerted us that they were charged" and that the fees were "never intended for riders who are ready at their designated pickup location but need more time to get into the car."
According to Simons, there are no wait time fees for wheelchair-accessible Uber rides or trips with Uber Assist—a program that provides additional assistance to seniors and people with disabilities. Simons also claimed that in 2020, the average wait time fee charged to riders would be less than $0.60, and that the company had "made product improvements" to make the app more accessible.
The suit was the most recent in a series of legal battles for Uber. In 2017, New Orleans residents filed a lawsuit alleging Uber violated the ADA once more by failing to provide wheelchair-accessible rides in their city, while the ride-hailing company was ordered to pay more than $1 million in April 2021 to a blind California resident who claimed she and her guide dog were refused rides.