Every day, 14 million trips are arranged and taken through the rideshare app Uber, according to the company’s website. However, its widespread use doesn’t mean there aren’t problems with the service.

In December 2019, Uber released a safety report disclosing the fact that it had received nearly 6,000 reports of sexual assaults associated with its ridesharing service — by both riders and drivers — between 2017 and 2018. More than one user of the service has filed an Uber sexual assault lawsuit after experiencing the trauma of such an attack.

Safety has been a concern among users since the earliest days of ridesharing. Consumers and public officials have urged Uber and its competitors, including Lyft, to strengthen its approach to rider and driver safety as the industry has grown.

One of the biggest questions on concerned riders’ minds has been “Does Uber do background checks?”

What is the Uber background check policy?

Uber, a privately-owned company, says it conducts a background check on every prospective driver. The check includes a review of the potential driver’s Motor Vehicle Report, which is an accounting of a person’s driving history from their state’s department of motor vehicles, and a criminal background check.

What are the Uber background check requirements?

To be approved as an Uber driver, the company’s website says, an individual must have a valid U.S. driver’s license free of any disqualifying restrictions, such as major driving violations or a recent history of multiple minor violations. A driver must have a minimum of one year of licensed driving experience in the U.S. or three years if the driver is under the age of 23.

The criminal background check is “subject to and in accordance with state and local law,” according to the company, which means that different states may have tighter restrictions.

Any prospective driver found to have been convicted of crimes such as murder, sexual assault, terrorism-related offenses, other felonies or violent crimes or sexual offenses, or found to be a registered sex offender or to have charges pending in any of those categories of crimes will be automatically disqualified by Uber, the company states.

How often does Uber do background checks?

Some Uber drivers work with the ridesharing service on a short-term basis, but since its inception, many have become long-term workers. That has prompted some safety conscious consumer to wonder how often does Uber do background checks on their drivers.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced in April 2018 that, although in the past the company would rerun background checks on existing drivers “in jurisdictions where required,” from that point on they would be done on all drivers yearly.

At that time, the company also said it was planning to use new technology to track drivers’ records on an ongoing basis.

In July 2018, Axios reported Uber had begun conducting ongoing background checks on drivers using Checkr, and real-time safety data using Appriss, a data and analytics provider.

“Through Appriss’s real-time collection of data, Uber will be notified if a driver is newly charged with a criminal offense,” the article said. “From there, Uber can decide if it wants to suspend a driver from its service to prevent unsafe behavior.”

In less than a month of testing it out on an unspecified percentage of its drivers, the new tracking led to the removal of 25 drivers, Uber VP of safety and insurance Gus Fuldner reportedly told Axios.

Who does Uber’s background checks?

Checkr, Inc., a third-party background check provider accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners, conducts the original background checks on prospective Uber drivers, the company says.

How far back does the Uber background check go?

Checkr uses the driver applicant’s Social Security number to get their driving and criminal records. The rideshare industry news website Ridester.com reports that the company looks back at seven years’ worth of records.

Uber driver accused of sexual assault

A 23-year-old woman who was an Uber passenger was allegedly sexually assaulted by Uber driver Mark Taylor in Scottsdale during the early morning hours of Oct. 24, 2020.

The Arizona Republic reported that the young woman had been partying with her friends in Old Town Scottsdale. The group ended up at a vacation rental a short distance away where they decided the woman was overly intoxicated and needed to get home, according to court documents.

One of the woman’s male friends contacted Uber through his phone app to obtain a ride for the woman.

Court documents indicate the young man told Taylor that the woman was very drunk and needed a safe ride home. The young man told Taylor that he would get a great tip if he took good care of getting his friend home safely.

After noticing on the Uber app that the car went around the neighborhood a bit and stopped just a few houses away with the ride marked finished, the young man became worried and ran to the location marked on the app. According to court documents, the young man knocked on the car door after he could purportedly see Taylor sexually assaulting his female friend.

Taylor ended up driving away, but was arrested at his home on Oct. 26. Court documents indicate he has been charged with suspicion of sexual assault and kidnapping with bond set at $100,000.

The Arizona Republic spoke with an Uber spokesperson who said Taylor had been deactivated as an Uber driver and that the company would work with law enforcement.

Calls for additional background checks

Having answered the question of does Uber do background checks, some public officials have pressed the company to take even more steps to ensure the rideshare service is safe.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut suggested Uber and its chief competitor, Lyft, institute fingerprint background checks for all drivers. He also urged the two companies to share information about drivers who are dismissed so as to improve safety through the industry, according to a report published by the Hartford Courant in November.

Blumenthal said he became interested in the safety of ridesharing services after the Washington Post published a story about Uber’s Special Investigations Unit, which handles calls from riders with complaints. Investigators were “coached by Uber to act in the company’s interest first, ahead of passenger safety” and forbidden from forwarding allegations to police or advising alleged victims to contact police or seek legal counsel, according to The Washington Post.

The article prompted Blumenthal to send Uber’s CEO a strongly worded letter expressing his concern about the company’s handling of complaints of sexual assault, among other things, and asking for information about the extent of the company’s background checks.

“While no background check is perfect, our process is thorough, fair and relevant to the work in question,” Justin Kintz, Uber vice president of global public policy, wrote in a letter responding to Blumenthal, as reported by the Courant.

Though Uber is now requiring background checks on all drivers, this is not a total guarantee of safety for riders.

Those asking “does Uber do background checks,” might wonder if background checks are enough to protect passengers. Simple Driver explains that items of a person’s criminal history only show up on a background check for seven years. This means that an Uber driver could have a more distant criminal past, but might be approved in a background check. Moreover, a person who has never before committed a crime can still commit sexual assault, and others may simply never have been caught.

In recent years, Uber has come under fire for abuse allegedly committed by drivers against passengers. This has led Uber to reconsider its safety protocol. Additionally, Uber has worked with the organizations like the National Sexual Violence Resource Center to develop tools to deal with sexual assault allegations.

Uber received 5,981 reports of sexual assault over the course of 2017 and 2018 combined in the United States alone, according to NPR.

Fortunately, these instances are rare. According to NPR, instances of abuse are reported in just 0.1% of Uber rides, while 99.9% of rides have no safety incidents reported — but given Uber’s widespread use, even this small percentage means that many riders may be affected.

Though Uber has maintained that these instances are rare, the company may not be reporting all of the ways in which passengers may face sexual threats. In their reports of sexual assault, Uber includes statistics of “nonconsensual kissing of a nonsexual body part, attempted nonconsensual sexual penetration, nonconsensual touching of a sexual body part, nonconsensual kissing of a sexual body part and nonconsensual sexual penetration.”

However, there are other ways in which a passenger may encounter sexual harassment. NPR explains that Uber does not report on verbal threats, or masturbation performed in the presence of an unwilling other person.

Filing a lawsuit over Uber sexual assault

If you have experienced sexual assault by an Uber or other rideshare driver, you may be able to file a lawsuit and pursue compensation. Filing a lawsuit can be a daunting prospect, so Top Class Actions has laid the groundwork for you by connecting you with an experienced attorney. Consulting an attorney can help you determine if you have a claim, navigate the complexities of litigation, and maximize your potential compensation.

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.