The Department of Justice said on Monday that the company will pay more than $2 million to resolve claims that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The man is holding a phone on the street.
In November, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of charging wait time fees in several cities and not changing its policy for people with disabilities.
According to the DOJ, as part of the settlement agreement, the company promised to waive the fees for passengers who certify they or someone they frequently travel with needs more time to enter a vehicle because of a disability.
The company will credit the accounts of more than 60,000 eligible riders for more than double the wait time fees they were charged, which could be hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, according to the DOJ.
The assistant attorney general for civil rights said that people with disabilities should not be made to feel like second class citizens.
The company has a policy of refunds for riders with a disability when they alert them that they were charged, according to Carissa.
A total of $2.10 million. More than one thousand riders with disabilities, as well as $500,000 to other individuals, were identified by the Department of Justice as being affected by the fees.
Passengers who are blind may need additional time to safely walk to a car, while others may need time to break down a wheelchair to store it in the vehicle, when the DOJ first filed its lawsuit. The department requested that the company change its policy of charging wait fees to passengers with disabilities, inform staff and drivers about the Americans with Disabilities Act, and compensate those with disabilities who had to pay the fees. The company said in a statement to Forbes that the wait fees were never intended for riders who needed more time to get into the car.
There are no wait time fees for wheelchair accessible rides as well as trips with Uber Assist, which provides additional assistance to seniors and people with disabilities. The company made product improvements to make the app more accessible and claimed the wait time fee charged to riders in 2020 was less than $0.60
There have been a number of legal battles between the company and the courts. The residents of New Orleans filed a lawsuit against the ride-sharing company, accusing them of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not providing wheelchair-accessible rides.
The DOJ sued the company over wait fees for disabled passengers.
Customers with disabilities are being sued for being charged wait fees.
People with disabilities are being sued for overcharging by the feds.
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