The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in 2021 alleging Uber violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by charging wait fees for passengers with disabilities.
The DOJ filed a lawsuit in November alleging Uber began charging wait time fees in several cities across the country in 2016, and did not amend the policy for those with disabilities who needed more than two minutes to get into their cars.
As a part of a two-year settlement agreement, Uber pledged to waive the fees for all passengers who certify they or someone they frequently travel with needs more time to enter a vehicle because of a disability, according to the DOJ. The ride-hailing company will also credit the accounts of more than 65,000 eligible riders for more than double the amount of wait time fees they were charged, which could amount to hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, the DOJ estimated.
People with disabilities “should not be made to feel like second-class citizens or punished because of their disability,” Kristen Clark, the DOJ’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement.the company was “pleased with the agreement,” adding it has “long been our policy to refund wait time fees for riders with a disability when they alerted us that they were charged.”$2.23 million.