Uber is being sued by more than 500 women who claim they were assaulted by drivers who use the ride-hailing platform, CNBC reported.
The complaint—filed in San Francisco County Superior Court—claims that “women passengers in multiple states were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, sexually battered, raped, falsely imprisoned, stalked, harassed, or otherwise attacked” by their Uber drivers.
Two weeks ago, Uber released its second safety report, saying it received 3,824 reports of the five most severe categories of sexual assault in 2019 and 2020, ranging from “non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part” to “non-consensual sexual penetration,” or rape.
Uber said that reported sexual assaults decreased by 38% from its initial report, which covered 2017 and 2018. The company has maintained in lawsuits that it cannot be held responsible for its drivers, whom it considers independent contractors rather than employees, Bloomberg Law reported.