Ridesharing giant Uber has been sued by more than 500 women who claim to have been sexually assaulted by drivers who provide services for the company.
CNBC reports that Uber is being sued by more than 500 women claiming that they were assaulted by drivers who use the ridesharing platform. A complaint was filed by attorneys with the Slater Slater Schulman firm in San Francisco County Superior Court on Wednesday that claims that “women passengers in multiple states were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked” by Uber drivers.
In a press release, the law firm stated: “As early as 2014, Uber became aware that its drivers were sexually assaulting and raping female passengers; nevertheless, in the eight years since, sexual predators driving for Uber have continued to attack passengers, including the plaintiffs whose claims were alleged in today’s action.”
The filing comes just two weeks after Uber shared its second safety report. In the report, the company claimed that it received 3,824 reports of the five most severe categories of sexual assault in 2019 and 2020 which ranged from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration,” or rape.
Uber claimed that the reported sexual assaults decreased by 38 percent from its first report covering 2017 and 2018. Adam Slater, a founding partner of Slater Slater Schulman, said in a statement: “While the company has acknowledged this crisis of sexual assault in recent years, its actual response has been slow and inadequate, with horrific consequences.”
Uber has attempted to introduce safety options in recent years, such as screening drivers when they sign up on the platform and once a year from then on. However, the company has maintained in lawsuits that it is not responsible for drivers who are listed as independent contractors rather than employees.
Earlier this week, the Guardian began publishing internal data from Uber including its questionable relationship with legal matters. As Breitbart News reported:
As the company faced major pushback, it began to lobby prime ministers, presidents, billionaires, oligarchs, and media barons for support. Leaked messages appear to show company executives were well aware that their actions violated various laws and regulations, with one joking that they have become “pirates” and another stating “we’re just fucking illegal.”
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan