Uber Ordered To Pay Us 1 1 Million After Blind Woman And Her Dog Were Refused Rides

Like Grab in Malaysia (and elsewhere), Uber officially maintains that its drivers aren’t employees, but third-party contractors. That changed last month in the UK at least when a ruling by the country’s Supreme Court prodded the company to reclassify its drivers as workers.

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 2, 2021 The woman, Lisa Irving, asserted that she was verbally abused by some of the drivers over her guide dog. She also claimed that ride cancellations led to her arriving late to work, which contributed to her subsequent termination. A representative of Irving reportedly said that under American law, “a guide dog should be able to go anywhere that a blind person can go.” In the US, Uber was previously sued by the blind community over its policy on guide dogs. The company opted to settle the lawsuit in 2017, agreeing to inform its drivers that they cannot deny service to people with guide dogs. (Source: BBC)