<
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/19/uber-told-to-pay-banned-sydney-driver-10000-after-failing-to-prove-passengers-complaint>
"Uber has been ordered to pay $10,000 in damages to an Australian driver after
it permanently banned him from working due to a passenger complaint but failed
to gather evidence that he had breached its code of conduct.
The ruling from the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal related
to Uber’s conduct when terminating the driver’s account after a trip last
August.
A female passenger alleged that the driver told her she was beautiful and asked
about her marital status, according to the Ncat decision.
But the driver denied this, claiming she had only lodged the complaint after he
had refused her demand to speed up during their trip to Sydney airport and was
unhappy with the low rating he had subsequently given her.
The driver, who partially relied on a Punjabi interpreter during the tribunal
proceedings, had been employed as an independent contractor, which Uber calls a
“driver partner”. He drove for Uber full-time, earning about $212,000 including
tips in the financial year before he was terminated.
He had a “gold diamond” average rating of 4.98 stars out of 5 as a driver from
19,956 trips over two and a half years. Four of those trips had led to a
customer complaint.
In the initial complaint from 9 August 2023, the passenger checked a box that
the driver’s behaviour had been “unprofessional or rude” but did not provide a
written comment.
Responding to the passenger the same day, Uber said it had noted the feedback
on the driver’s account and would give the passenger a 50% discount for the
next two trips."
As with other situations dealing with the public extensively documented on
https://notalwaysright.com/ I think drivers need to have audio recordings
during their trips to provide evidence in cases like this.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
