Uber allegedly deactivated transgender drivers’ accounts after they transitioned
Drivers claim their photos were deemed "fraudulent" and that they were unable to restore their accounts through a cumbersome appeals process.
The ride-hailing app company Uber has come under criticism after a new investigation by the Los Angeles Times claims that some transgender drivers had their accounts deactivated and were kicked off the app after their post-transition profile photos were flagged as “fraudulent.”
According to five drivers who spoke to the Times, their accounts were deactivated despite the company touting a new option allowing transgender drivers to update their names and profile pictures to reflect their gender identity.
To add insult to injury, some of the drivers who said they were kicked off the app report being unable to recover their accounts through the company’s appeals process. Messages to the support desk would be elevated to a “specialized team” or were met with scripted responses that didn’t address specific questions.
Instead of resolving the issue in three to five business days, drivers said they wouldn’t hear back for weeks. Support desk staff fielding the calls were often ill-equipped to answer questions or failed to permanently resolve the problems preventing the drivers from reactivating their accounts.
According to the Times: “When drivers sought updates, they were assigned new service representatives who would start the process from scratch. After numerous exchanges, four drivers gave up, saying the process seemed futile.”
Monty Robinson, a former Uber driver who had worked for the company for more than a year before transitioning, submitted a form through Uber’s help page entitled “I am transgender and need account help” but Uber nonetheless deactivated her account, claiming she’d uploaded a “fraudulent” photo.
Adrian Escobedo, a transgender man who worked as an UberEats driver, claims he submitted a profile picture taken after he transitioned with a driver’s license photo taken before the transition, which resulted in his account being suspended. Weeks later, he was accused of submitting fraudulent documents, and was banned from the platform. It was only after the ACLU of Southern California interceded on Escobedo’s behalf that his account was reactivated.
Other transgender drivers encountered difficulty getting the app to display their true name instead of their “deadname” from before they transitioned. For example, Sam Moore, a driver from Santa Ana, California, feared that having his legal name visible would out him as transgender to customers — potentially posing a threat to his safety. But the company refused to display Moore’s chosen name, instead keeping his legal name and adding “Sam” after it in parentheses.
Moore continued to fight with the company for three days, tweeting at the company, and threatening to delete the app. It was only after he mentioned he had a lawyer — his mother — advising him that Uber fixed the issue and sent a link to information about a partnership with the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Related: UberEats apologizes after being accused of outing trans drivers to customers
As a result of the problems with Uber’s verification system, appeals process, and other issues, many of the ride-share drivers or delivery people who had their accounts flagged were forced to migrate over to other companies like Lyft and DoorDash, which have had transgender-affirming policies in place for years.
Uber spokesman Zahid Arab said that matching profile photos to government IDs is a fraud prevention measure the company undertakes as part of its safety protocols, although he acknowledged that “on occasion, requests can be misrouted and result in a regrettable customer experience which we are working to address.”
“Uber and our partners make every effort to remedy situations like this in a timely manner,” Arab added. “We continue to work on improving internal processes and working with our third party background check providers to help ensure the background check process runs as expected for transgender and nonbinary users.”
He also noted that drivers who lose access to their accounts are asked to work with Checkr, a third-party service Uber uses to screen new drivers and conduct annual background checks. But Uber’s own website states that Uber — not Checkr — is ultimately responsible for determining driver eligibility.
Arab said the company is currently working to reactivate the accounts of the drivers who spoke to the Times.
“We’ve worked to train Uber staff to handle all requests with compassion, empathy, and respect,” he said. “We regret the confusion and pain that is caused when we don’t meet that standard.”
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