Uber is rolling out stricter background checks for US drivers and couriers, expanding the list of criminal convictions that disqualify someone from the platform. The move comes after years of lawsuits alleging the company failed to protect passengers.
The new policy, taking effect immediately, disqualifies drivers with convictions for violent felonies — armed robbery, aggravated assault, arson — as well as child abuse, strangulation, and stalking, even if the conviction is more than seven years old. Previously, many older felonies fell outside the screening window.
DUI, reckless driving, theft, fraud, weapons offenses, harassment, and protective order violations also disqualify if they occurred within the past seven years. Driving without a license or while uninsured within the past three years is also a bar.
There’s a narrow exception: drivers with a single felony older than 15 years, non-sexual in nature, and no serious safety complaints on record can keep driving. Uber says this covers roughly 2,000 people.
The company is also switching from a 7-year SSN trace to a lifetime (99-year) trace for initial screenings and annual re-screening. Bloomberg reports the change could remove tens of thousands of drivers — about 0.5% of Uber’s US workforce.
This follows a shareholder lawsuit accusing Uber’s board of “insufficient resources to customer safety” and a federal court awarding $8.5 million to a plaintiff who alleged she was raped by an Uber driver in Arizona.
