Uber is tightening who can drive for its platform. The company announced an expanded background check policy that adds new categories of criminal conviction to its disqualification list, including some with no time limit.
The move comes after Uber shareholders sued the company's board of directors and executive officers. According to Engadget, the lawsuit alleged that "Uber's leadership has a long history of devoting insufficient resources to customer safety and protection, and setting a tone of non-compliance for the organization." The lawsuit tied that pattern to sexual assault and harassment of riders.
Uber has faced sexual assault lawsuits for years. It recently paid $8.5 million to settle a case in which a 19-year-old plaintiff alleged she was raped by a driver in Arizona.
The new policy takes effect Monday. Under the updated rules, violent felonies involving armed robbery, aggravated assault, arson, child abuse and endangerment, strangulation and stalking will disqualify any driver permanently, no matter how old the conviction. Uber already excluded people convicted of sexual assault, sex crimes involving minors, murder, kidnapping and terrorism.
A second tier of offenses, including DUI, reckless driving, theft, fraud, weapons offenses, harassment and violating a protective order, will disqualify drivers if the conviction happened within the past seven years. Driving without a license or driving uninsured will disqualify drivers if the offense occurred within the past three years.
Uber is making a narrow exception for a small number of current drivers. Those who have no serious interpersonal safety complaints and whose felony conviction is more than 15 years old and non-sexual in nature may continue driving. "We believe this is the right thing to do for drivers who have rebuilt their lives and demonstrated good behavior on and off the Uber platform," the company said. Approximately 2,000 drivers across the United States fall into that exception.
Uber said it uses third-party background check providers that search federal court records, the National Sex Offender Public Website, international sanctions lists and databases used to identify suspected terrorists. Going forward, initial background checks and annual re-screening will use a 99-year, or lifetime, Social Security number trace. Previously, Uber used a seven-year trace.
