Uber has been ordered to reinstate a driver accused of dangerous driving and inappropriate behaviour, in another ruling that found the ride-share giant’s complaints process failed to meet Australia’s new gig worker protections.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) ruled this week that Uber did not provide enough information to the driver about the allegations against him and failed to properly investigate whether the complaints were true.
The case highlights growing tensions around the Labor government’s gig economy reforms, which introduced unfair deactivation protections for Uber drivers and other “employee-like workers” who have worked for a platform for at least six months.
The laws were designed to stop gig workers from being arbitrarily removed through automated systems with no opportunity to respond.
However, concerns are emerging that the protections are also allowing drivers accused of serious misconduct to regain access to the platforms.
A number of recent FWC decisions have found Uber’s internal complaints handling process does satisfy new legal requirements, primarily because the company often does not seek additional evidence or detailed statements from riders.
Uber has argued this is sometimes necessary to avoid retraumatising complainants.
As a result, multiple drivers removed from the platform after rider complaints have been reinstated because the Commission found there was insufficient evidence to justify cutting off their income.
A series of complaints
The latest case involved a man who had been driving for Uber since October 2022.
The FWC heard he had received a number of complaints, including allegations of using his phone while driving, dangerous driving, speeding by more than 20km, tailgating other vehicles, and yelling at a customer.
When informed by Uber about these complaints, the driver denied them each time.
Uber then replied the matter was considered resolved and he could continue driving.
The man also received a complaint from a rider about him allegedly making inappropriate sexual comments that made the rider “extremely uncomfortable” and another that claimed he was “misogynistic”.
In January 2024, Uber received another complaint alleging the driver touched a passenger without consent and asked them to move from the back seat to the front while he stopped for petrol.
In response, Uber blocked his access to the account and informed him of the complaint about “non-consensual touching”.
After the man denied these claims, Uber said it had conducted a review and he was reactivated, but FWC was shown no evidence about what this review entailed.
In May last year another complaint was made about the driver, and he was sent a preliminary deactivation notice in June stating he had “previously been reported for multiple instances of discrimination, which is a direct violation of your agreement with Uber”.
Two weeks later, Uber permanently deactivated his account.
New rights for gig workers
Under the new laws in Australia, gig economy workers must be given a right to respond to a preliminary deactivation, which must include sufficient information, and that the worker can seek assistance or support from another person who isn’t a lawyer.
Uber argued the repeated complaints justified the driver’s removal from the platform.
Fair Work Commissioner Oanh Thi Tran found the notices too vague to justify the deactivation.
It found that the reasons were too general, and that when the driver had tried to get more information on some of them, he received “nonsensical” responses from Uber’s chatbot.
“The generality of the information provided about the complaints makes it extremely difficult for a person to properly respond or to provide relevant supporting information, such as dashcam videos, if any,” Tran said.
The Commissioner also said that Uber did not do enough to adequately investigate the allegations.
“This is because Uber do not appear to have responded to the applicant’s request for further information, either to provide him with that further information or to inform him of the reasons why they did not provide him with that further information,” the ruling said.
The Commissioner ruled the driver must be reactivated and compensated for lost earnings over the past year, with the amount to be calculated at a later date.
An Uber spokesperson said the company remained “committed to the safety of everyone” and defended its reluctance to seek additional information from some complainants because of the risk of retraumatising them.
“We remain concerned by the significant number of decisions the Commission has made, where little or no weight is given to the experience of customers,” the spokesperson said.
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth earlier this year said she is “working as a priority with platforms, unions and safety experts to ensure that the deactivation is used as we intended in cases of sexual misconduct – to protect the safety of consumers and ensure swift action is taken against predators”.
