Uber expands US driver background checks after sexual assault lawsuits

Uber is adopting a more stringent background check process for its drivers, which will expand the kinds of criminal convictions that will disqualify them from driving or delivering for the company. The ridesharing firm has announced its new standard for background checks, shortly after its shareholders sued the company's board of directors and executive officers. 

"Uber's leadership has a long history of devoting insufficient resources to customer safety and protection, and setting a tone of non-compliance for the organization," the lawsuit read. That lack of compliance, the lawsuit said, led to sexual assault and harassment of Uber riders. Uber has been facing waves of sexual assault lawsuits for years, and it recently awarded $8.5 million in damages to settle a 19-year-old's plaintiff's accusation that she was raped by a driver in Arizona. 

The company will start implementing its updated background check, which it believes is the strongest in the industry, starting on Monday. Under the new rules, violent felonies that involve armed robbery, aggravated assault and arson, as well child abuse and endangerment, strangulation and stalking, will disqualify drivers, even if their record was more than seven years ago. Uber already doesn't sign on interested people who had been convicted of sexual assault, sex crimes involving minors, sexual offenses, murder or homicide, kidnapping and terrorism. 

Anybody convicted of DUI, speeding and reckless driving, theft and fraud, property damage, weapons offenses, harassment and violating a protective order, among others, also won't be able to drive for Uber if their conviction happened within the past seven years. Drivers also can't be convicted of driving without license and driving while uninsured over the past three years.

Uber is making a narrow exception for longstanding drivers who haven't received any serious interpersonal safety-related complaints. As long as their felony conviction is older than 15 years old and was not sexual in nature, they can continue driving for Uber. "We believe this is the right thing to do for drivers who have rebuilt their lives and demonstrated good behavior on and off the Uber platform," the company said. This exception will apply to approximately 2,000 drivers across the US. 

The company explained that it uses third-party background check providers, who "search a range of federal, national, state, and local sources, including federal court records, the National Sex Offender Public Website, international sanctions lists, and databases used to identify suspected terrorists." Uber has been using a 7-year SSN trace in the US for its background checks. But going forward, its searches will use a 99-year, or lifetime, SSN trace for initial background checks and annual re-screening of existing drivers and couriers. According to Bloomberg, the new measures are expected to lead to the removal of tens of thousands of drivers, or around 0.5 percent of its workforce in the US