Uber dodged a $59 million nice from California regulators over the corporate’s refusal to share details about sexual assault and harassment claims.
Now, each events say they’ve reached an settlement that can see Uber paying $9.1 million and preserving a degree of rider privateness.
The nice was first levied in December after California regulators requested Uber to share detailed knowledge — together with names, places and occasions — on alleged sexual assaults that occurred throughout rides. Uber balked, saying that sharing such info can be a “stunning violation” of victims’ privateness.
Underneath the settlement with California’s Public Utilities Fee, Uber will give $9 million to a state sufferer’s fund, pay a $150,000 nice and assist draft rideshare trade security and reporting requirements as an alternative of paying the unique nice, the teams stated in a Thursday regulatory submitting.
“We’ve been capable of finding a path ahead that preserves the privateness and company of sexual assault survivors,” stated Tony West, Uber’s chief authorized officer, in an announcement.
The brand new settlement between Uber and California regulators — if authorized by an administrative decide — would see Uber present anonymized knowledge on previous and future cases of assault to the company.
Sooner or later, Uber would additionally supply victims the flexibility to decide in to being contacted by California authorities once they report a declare.
All ride-hail corporations working in California — together with ride-hailing archrival Lyft — would additionally need to adjust to these future knowledge requests.
The dispute started when Uber launched a security report in December 2019, revealing that about 6,000 stories of sexual assault had occurred throughout 2.3 billion journeys within the US in 2017 and 2018.
That report prompted the Public Utilities Fee to hunt extra particulars in regards to the incidents that occurred in California — together with the date, location and time of every one, the circumstances of the assault, and call info for witnesses in addition to every particular person to whom the assault was reported.
Uber refused to conform, leading to final yr’s nice.
Lyft has promised to launch the same report on sexual assaults, however stated it will await the results of Uber’s tiff with California regulators earlier than releasing its knowledge.
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