Thousands of Uber and Lyft Massachusetts Drivers Fail New Background Checks
More than 8,000 drivers for both Uber and Lyft have been barred from taking the roads in Massachusetts following a new state background check.
Out of the roughly 71,000 drivers who had been preapproved by reviews done by both Uber and Lyft, about 11,000, or 11% failed the new state background check – which violations include license suspensions, violent crimes, and sexual offenses.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, violent or sexual offenses, drunk driving, as well as reckless driving were among the reason why hundreds were disqualified.
The agency also said that 51 of those applications were rejected for sex offenses.
This isn’t the first time background checks have been an issue for Uber – Los Angeles and San Francisco District Attorneys filed a civil lawsuit in 2014 that aimed to shed light on the company’s background check process.
Uber has been plagued by controversy as of late – a video surfaced showing CEO Travis Kalanick berating an Uber driver, they’re battling a lawsuit by Waymo, Uber President Jeff Jones quit just six months into the job, and a #DeleteUber hashtag has even popped up on Twitter.
You would think that given the #deleteuber debacle, @Uber_Support would be on top of their response game. Not so. Not even close.
— Victoria Lo ♈️ (@vlo4sho) March 27, 2017