Uber driver: Company isn’t paying the full 80% of a fare that I’m owed

An Uber driver in North Carolina has sued Uber in a proposed class-action lawsuit. He alleges that he and other drivers like him are consistently underpaid based on the company’s own formula.

Since nearly the beginning, Uber has paid its drivers 80 percent of a given fare. However, in the lawsuit, lawyers representing the driver, Martin Dulberg, claim that the company has now changed the way it calculates what that fare is. The result is that the company consistently pays between 70 and 80 percent—but not the full 80 percent—of what the fare should be.

In the new lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco, Dulberg's lawyers allege:

For example, on February 2, 2017, Plaintiff drove an UberX passenger from 3408 Cherry Lane in Raleigh, North Carolina, to 101 Macaw Street in Raleigh, North Carolina. The passenger was charged $15.38. This is the Fare. The Booking Fee in Raleigh at the time was $1.80. So Dulberg should have made 80% of ($15.38 - $1.80) = $10.86.

But Dulberg was paid $9.91 (80% of Uber’s backend calculation of $12.39). This is 95 cents less than Dulberg should have made under the Agreement (the difference is magnified on longer rides). Indeed, instead of receiving the promised 80% of the Fare, Dulberg received approximately 73%.

In recent years, the company has faced a slew of lawsuits from drivers and former drivers nationwide who say that they were not paid adequately and/or were not fully compensated as employees, rather than contractors. In October last year a court in the UK ruled that Uber drivers should be treated as employees, a decision that Uber said it would appeal.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in San Francisco approved a settlement between Uber and its customers to settle claims that the company was dishonest about how drivers would receive tips.

Paul Maslo, who oversees the Napoli Shkolink law firm's 10 Uber-related cases, including this one, Dulberg v. Uber, told Ars that the firm's previous nine cases have to do with alleged misclassification of drivers as independent contractors. He noted that this case is different.

"The crux of the complaint is that Uber breaches its agreement with drivers by not paying them the agreed-upon percentage of the fares they generate," he e-mailed. "Several of our clients recently brought this critical issue to our attention, and it’s important for us to ensure that Uber complies with its contractual obligations."

An Uber spokeswoman, Sophie Schmidt, told Ars by e-mail on Tuesday evening that, although the company did not have a comment on the lawsuit for now, "our team is reviewing the complaint. I can keep you posted if that changes."