Last year, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, Uber adopted what it intended to be a supportive measure by freeing black-owned restaurants of delivery charges. The policy received pushback, resulting in a reverse discrimination claim by the state of Arizona that Uber subsequently settled. Additionally, and more relevant to this site, attorneys filed with the American Arbitration Association more than 20,000 individual claims by food providers alleging that the claimants, whose fees were not waived, were victims of Uber’s discriminatory policy. The arbitration agreements between Uber and its provider-customers would require it to pay millions in administrative fees to AAA, which it allegedly has not done for the vast majority of the cases. Accordingly, having not been paid for its services, AAA has failed to administer the cases.
Claimants’ counsel have now filed in federal court in California an action against Uber to compel arbitration. The petition is available here, and this article, available through Law Street Media, discusses the legal issues in more detail.
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