Uber discriminates against passengers with disabilities by charging them wait fees, a Department of Justice lawsuit alleges

• The Justice Department sued Uber, accusing it of discriminating against riders with disabilities.
• The DOJ said Uber's wait fees were unfair to passengers who need extra time to get into a car.

The Department of Justice on Wednesday sued Uber, accusing it of overcharging passengers with disabilities.

In a press release announcing the suit, the DOJ alleged Uber's wait fees discriminated against people with disabilities who need extra time to find their ride or get into it. The DOJ alleged that Uber violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disabilities.

"People with disabilities deserve equal access to all areas of community life, including the private transportation services provided by companies like Uber," Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for the department's civil-rights division, said in a press release.

She added: "This lawsuit seeks to bring Uber into compliance with the mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act while sending a powerful message that Uber cannot penalize passengers with disabilities simply because they need more time to get into a car."

An Uber spokesperson rejected the notion that the company had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, telling Insider that the wait fees were never intended to charge people who needed extra time to get into a car.

"It has been our policy to refund wait time fees for disabled riders whenever they alerted us that they were charged," the spokesperson said. "After a recent change last week, now any rider who certifies they are disabled will have fees automatically waived."

Shares of Uber fell about 5% Wednesday to roughly $43.

Uber charges wait-time fees to customers who take more than two minutes to board an UberX vehicle or more than five minutes to get in the more expensive Uber Black or SUV offerings. Uber's wheelchair-accessible and assist services - the latter being for people with disabilities - do not charge wait fees by default, the spokesperson said.

Ride-hailing firms have been accused of discriminating against passengers with disabilities before.

Earlier this year, Uber was ordered to pay $1.1 million to a passenger with blindness who was denied rides 14 times. Advocacy groups have filed class-action lawsuits against the company, accusing it of providing too few wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Lyft settled a suit in 2020 that alleged it discriminated against riders with walkers and wheelchairs by denying rides.