Uber driver Karen was sexually harassed by a male passenger in June but after lodging a complaint, the rideshare company responded by banning her from taking passengers on the app.
Karen had been driving a man home when he asked if he could pay her for sex -- an offer she says she politely refused.
Fearing for her personal safety, she contacted Uber afterwards to ask that she not be paired with the passenger again.
The Feed has obtained screenshots between Karen and an Uber employee before they put her account on hold. Source: The Feed
The Feed has seen an exchange between Karen and an Uber employee, who responded to her complaint by temporarily prohibiting her from taking passengers.
Karen is a full-time contractor for Uber and says the 48-hour ban meant she was unable to earn an income for two days.
“If you make any sort of complaint about being assaulted, they limit your access to the application and take away your means to make a living,” Karen told The Feed.
“It’s the victim that gets punished, not the perpetrator,” she said.
An Uber spokesperson told The Feed that “if a driver-partner and a rider make safety-related reports against each other, we may temporarily remove both parties access to the app while our 24/7 global support and incident team looks into the matter.”
Uber's response after an employee banned her from taking passengers after she reported sexual assault. Source: The Feed
But Karen believes Uber also needs to address the fact that perpetrators are able to rate drivers down after sexual assaults.
Karen says that’s exactly what happened to her two years ago after she was sexually assaulted by a man who she picked up from the pub. He had been with another man and woman at the time.
When Karen dropped the passengers off at their destination, the man and woman got out of the backseat but the man sitting in the front refused to leave.
“I said to him ‘I’ve got another passenger mate, you’ve got to go’ and he stuck his hand out to shake my hand. I shook his hand, just to get rid of him and with that, he grabbed me,” Karen said.
Karen says the man then threw himself on top of her and sexually assaulted her with one hand while licking her face before exiting the car.
Karen says Uber allows perpetrators to rate drivers down after they assault them. Source: AAP
“I was in so much shock, I just drove around the corner and sat there. I didn’t know what to do,” she told The Feed.
After the assault, Karen alerted Uber about what occurred and filed a police report but she did not end up pressing charges.
Uber banned the male passenger from the application but Karen says it still affected her rating, as her alleged abuser left her one star after the assault.
She says this impacted her income as “the higher your rating, the more work you get”.
‘I felt demeaned’
Karen’s experience is far from isolated.
by the Rideshare Drivers’ Co-operative and Transport Workers’ Union found one in five rideshare drivers have been sexually harassed, over six percent sexually assaulted and one in ten physically assaulted.
Like Karen, Casey* has been driving Uber for several years and says she’s been “propositioned” many times on the job.
Casey says she was sexually assaulted a year ago in what she describes as “the ride from hell” after she picked up a man from a pokie venue who’d attended a music festival.
Casey pictured right. Source: Supplied
“The whole time he was questioning me about my relationship status, where I lived, asking intrusive questions and inappropriate questions,” she said.
The man had asked to be driven to McDonald’s and then dropped home. While waiting in the drive-thru, Casey says the man started grabbing her breast and putting his hand on her leg.
“He was trying to get his face on my earrings, so I took the earrings out and he said ‘is it okay if he put the earring through his penis?’,” she told The Feed.
Casey says the man, who later pleaded guilty to the assault, asked her to have sex and when she refused, he asked if he could pay her for it.
“I just had to keep reminding him that wasn’t what I was there for,” she said.
“I felt demeaned and like he was taking advantage of the closest female at the time that could meet his needs.”
The man was convicted, charged with one count of sexual assault and fined $2500.
Source: AAP/AP Photo/Eric Risberg
Uber cancelled the man’s membership to the app but Casey says the company's response time is “absolutely disgusting”. She claims it took them several weeks to respond to the police’s request for information about the assault.
“The only means we have is a phone call or a message online and it can take weeks to get any response at all,” she said.
In the months following the assault, Casey was too afraid to drive passengers and started doing food deliveries instead.
“Now that the assault has happened, I'm super vigilant about the hours and areas I drive in. I won’t compromise on that any more because of my experience,” she said.
An Uber spokesperson told The Feed the company has developed new safety benefits, “such as tracking every trip with GPS, to Uber’s emergency assistance button and Share My Trip features for both riders and driver-partners.”
The family of an Uber Eats rider who was killed on the job has lodged a claim for worker's compensation. Source: Supplied
The spokesperson said that in Australia, “eligible drivers using the Uber app” are covered by insurance and that the app partners with counselling provider Converge to assist drivers.
“We also have a dedicated law enforcement team who are on call to work with police 24/7 to respond to urgent matters and assist in investigations,” they said.
But Casey believes rideshare apps should change their algorithm to ensure passengers who have any ‘red flags’ in their history don't end up being paired with female drivers.
She also thinks rideshare companies should provide female drivers with dashcams, so they can record any incidents that occur.
Uber did not comment on whether the company would give drivers dashcams but said, “while no form of transport is 100 percent free of incidents, we are committed to doing our part and promoting the safe use of our app, tackling tough issues, and being part of the solution by working with safety experts and leading organisations in Australia.”
‘A bashing left me out of work for months’
Jessica* drives for Ola and says she often feels unsafe on the job. But as a single mother with a disabled son, she feels her work options are limited.
After a brutal assault in June that she says left her with internal injuries and psychological trauma, Jessica explains she was out of work for months.
Jessica claims she’d been driving a teenage girl and male passenger home when a dispute broke out over the passengers refusing to change the drop off location, despite being asked to be dropped off elsewhere.
Jessica says things escalated when the teenage girl started aggressively swearing and yelling before throwing punches at the back of Jessica’s head while she was driving.
Jessica says she was out of work for months after a brutal assault by a passenger. Source: Getty
“It was a very busy intersection and nearly five o'clock in the afternoon,” Jessica told The Feed.
“I thought if I got out of my car, someone would help me. That was the biggest mistake.”
Jessica says that when she exited the car the girl followed and began slamming punches and kicks into her head, face and stomach.
When Jessica finally managed to call the police, she says the girl took a picture of her car and told her: “you're not safe anymore.”
The teenage girl was banned by Ola and charged with assault.
An Ola spokesperson told The Feed that the company has “a zero-tolerance policy against anything that compromises the well-being of our drivers and customers”.
Ola banned the teenage girl from the application after she allegedly assaulted Jessica. Source: Getty
The spokesperson also said Ola has a 24/7 emergency button on their application, which is available for both drivers and passengers.
“Ola works with all relevant authorities to ensure we meet all safety requirements for drivers and riders. We condemn any act of crime on our drivers and we always extend all support and cooperation with necessary authorities,” the spokesperson said.
“We will not hesitate to ban customers that abuse and threaten our drivers. To ensure the safety of our drivers, we offer 24-hour support to action incidents in real-time and prevent exposure for other drivers,” they added.
The incident has had a lasting impact on Jessica, who now struggles with memory loss, back problems and anxiety.
Jessica says as a single mother with a disabled son, she has few work opportunities. Source: Getty
“I had so much pain after that I was in hospital for two days,” she told The Feed.
“I'm still scared if someone raises their voice with me. I will just start crying.”
Following her assault, Karen is now supporting other female drivers who’ve had similar experiences by taking them to doctor’s appointments and sharing advice.
Last Boxing Day, a passenger punched a Perth rideshare driver, in one eye. Uber driver Karen was so horrified by the assault that she took matters into her own hands and created a group chat with other rideshare drivers as a safety precaution.
In the group chat, drivers share their GPS coordinates and type a codeword if they need others to call the police on their behalf.
At least one driver will send out a distress signal in the chat a week, according to Karen.
Karen (left) is part of a group chat of drivers that was created for personal security reasons. Source: Getty, Supplied
“Drivers needed to be somewhere that they could gather to support each other,” she said.
She believes rideshare platforms like Uber aren’t doing enough to keep drivers safe and respond in a timely manner to their complaints.
“I’ve had a guy in my car try to choke me with my seatbelt because I asked him to stop hitting his girlfriend. I've had people throw drinks at the car,” she said.
“Uber could support drivers a lot better than what they do. They just kick you off the app. Drivers are completely disposable."
*Names have been changed to protect drivers' identities
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
