Uber loses Colorado lawsuit over disclosing driver pay
No First Amendment right to hide prices, profit
Effective February 1st in Colorado, Uber is required to provide customers with detailed billing information including driver pay, deductions, and the portion of the fare Uber takes.
“At the time the legislation passed, Uber publicly accepted the new requirements. It negotiated the details with lawmakers and said it had nothing to hide,” David Seligman said in Colorado Politics
However, as the implementation date approached, Uber made an about-face, “rushing to court to block the rules. It argues requiring disclosure of its pricing practices violates its First Amendment rights.”
The Colorado Legislature passed two acts last year, signed by Governor Jared Polis, the Transportation Network Company Transparency Act, SB24-075, and the Protections for Delivery Network Company Drivers Act, HB24-1129, requiring companies like Uber to disclose price and pay information for each transaction to create more transparency around the services, reports Courthouse News Service.
Uber sued Polis and Scott Moss, the state director for the Division of Labor Standards and Statistics, on January 11 claiming the laws compel the company to make speech it disagrees with, at a time and in a manner that it finds burdensome. The January 31st injunction hearing focused on blocking the ride-hail disclosures.
Uber claimed it had First Amendment rights to hide its pricing and profit practices from the public. The court did not agree, and ordered Uber to begin providing clear, exact information with every ride as mandated by the new legislation.
George Wedge, president of the Ontario Rideshare Drivers Association of Ontario (RDAO) told Road Warrior News the Colorado decision is “a definite win for drivers.”
“The information Uber is being required to disclose will add to a driver’s ability to make informed decisions,” says Wedge, who recently spoke to Canada’s federal Standing Committee on Ethics on the opaque nature of Uber’s driver pay system.
Wedge doesn’t believe the Colorado decision will harm Uber’s business immediately, but points out that “it creates opportunities for other businesses, like Hop and Lyft and others, to see how Uber makes money and develop strategies against it.”
