Male drivers hit dead end in discrimination suits against Uber, Lyft

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Merry Go Slower

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Eidikes Dynameis Kyprou · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Male drivers in California filed class actions against Uber and Lyft claiming the companies' women's preference programs amount to illegal sex discrimination, seeking at least $4,000 per driver in statutory damages. A San Francisco judge instead ordered both cases to arbitration, citing the individual arbitration clauses drivers agreed to when signing up, and the plaintiffs' attorney subsequently dismissed the class claims without prejudice.

The dismissals arrive alongside a new state law, negotiated between Uber and a consumer attorneys' group, that explicitly protects gender-matching features and applies retroactively to pending litigation. Lyft's 'Women+ Connect' and Uber's 'Women Preferences' programs let riders and drivers indicate a preference to be matched by gender, though both companies stress it's a preference, not a guarantee.

Uber called itself 'proud to stand behind' the program and credited the legislative fix for heading off 'frivolous lawsuits.' A similar suit filed on behalf of male riders in Los Angeles was also dismissed.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Nothing says commonsense safety feature quite like a company lobbying the legislature to retroactively immunize itself the moment a lawsuit gets uncomfortable. The arbitration clause did the heavy lifting here, not the merits of anyone's argument about stereotypes — which is usually how these things go when the fine print was signed months before the outrage.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Merry Go Slower · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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