NewsWatch
Keeping a critical eye on Uber,
Lyft and other transportation
network companies
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How sleazy is Uber? This federal judge wants to know
We're familiar with the Uber that talked about responding to bad publicity by digging up dirt on reporters following the company. Also the Uber that allegedly stalked passengers using its service, following their travel routes for the amusement of its party-goers. And the Uber that moves heaven and earth to avoid performing thorough background checks on its drivers. What about the Uber that secretly investigated a lawyer representing an adversary in a lawsuit, and then lied about it?
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Uber hired investigators to impersonate journalists to target lawsuit plaintiff
In a judicial order filed earlier last week, a federal judge eviscerated Uber in an ongoing antitrust proposed class-action lawsuit. According to the order, Uber is now required to produce documents to a New York-based federal judge to aid in the determination as to whether Uber has engaged in price-fixing behavior. The suit, known as Meyer v. Kalanick, pits New Yorker and former Uber customer Spencer Meyer against Travis Kalanick, the founder and CEO of Uber.
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Uber's head of global customer support is out after leaked documents revealed shaky internal practices
The head of Uber's global customer support operations, Tim Collins, has left the company, multiple sources told Recode. The former vice president of operations at Amazon was poached by Uber to lead the ride-hail company's customer support operations in January of 2015. Uber announced he was no longer with the company in an email to community operations managers and other internal employees.
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Uber and strippers have something in common
You might not think that Uber and strippers belong in the same sentence. But both are deeply interested in the great legal question of the sharing economy: who's an independent contractor and who's an employee? Now a federal appeals court has weighed in with a ruling that strippers are employees. Its reasoning provides an important window into the legal question on which a whole business model depends. The case arose from a lawsuit brought by exotic dancers working in several Maryland clubs.
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Just when you thought your Uber ride couldn't get any sleazier
Cash-strapped Uber drivers and other black-car operators are taking kickbacks from a Manhattan strip club to bring customers to its door, The Post has learned. The livery hacks have been lining up outside the hip Lavo lounge on East 58th Street near Madison Avenue and offering to take guys leaving the club to the jiggle joint Sapphire on East 60th Street - an illegal scheme, since black cars are barred from taking street hails.
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Uber's car leasing program turns its drivers into modern-day sharecroppers
Behind the shiny veneer of Uber's venture capital-backed technological innovation lies a time-tested business model: labor exploitation. Uber's latest scheme is a new spin on the age-old practice of sharecropping. Struggling to find enough drivers willing to put miles on their own cars, Uber recently began offering subprime auto loans to would-be drivers, conveniently extracting payments directly from their paychecks, or (because Uber insists its drivers aren't its employees) their "Uber earnings."
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Uber faces new federal lawsuit from a Boston driver
Ride-hailing startup Uber Technologies Inc. may have amassed billions of dollars in funding, but the company continues to face more lawsuits. The latest? A Boston man who works as a freelance driver for Uber filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday against the company, accusing the firm of misclassifying workers at San Francisco-based Uber as independent contractors - possibly reigniting a legal battle against the company just two months after hundreds of drivers say they will reject a settlement in a similar class-action suit.
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Uber is sued by Indiana driver over tips
An Indianapolis man is suing ride-hailing service Uber, claiming the company steals drivers' tips and wrongly classifies workers as independent contractors. In documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, William Scroggins claims Uber denies drivers the right to accept tips and does not give tips to drivers when passengers choose to pay them through the app. The suit also claims that Uber classifies drivers as contractors so it can avoid reimbursing them for gasoline, vehicle maintenance and other expenses.
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French court fines Uber, execs for illegal taxi service
A French court fined Uber Technologies $907,000 for running an illegal taxi service with non-professional drivers and slapped smaller fines on two of its executives in the first such criminal case in Europe. The Uber POP service connected clients via a smartphone app with non-professional drivers using their own cars. Uber France suspended the low-cost service last year after the government banned it under pressure from licensed taxi drivers.
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Uber's books still top secret, but its biggest weakness isn't
Uber has raised $12.5 billion at an implied valuation of $66 billion, all without having to show the world its books. But without intending to, Uber may have revealed a major weakness that may bring it back down to Earth: wider adoption of its business model. The creation of Uber in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis can be compared to an earlier disruptive innovation: the supermarket.
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City's Uber, Lyft drivers paying more than $600 in late fees for $91 business license
Many Uber and Lyft drivers unexpectedly owe San Francisco more than $700 in late business fees, the San Francisco Examiner has learned. At first, the fees were expected to be minimal. More than 37,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in San Francisco grumbled when they first heard The City would require them to pay an annual $91 business license fee in April, the first time it was announced. Now those same drivers are crying foul as those fees are skyrocketing for some who registered with the San Francisco Treasurer and Tax Collector's Office.
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