Uber overcharged disabled passengers for pickups, feds say

Uber Technologies will pay $2.2 million to settle a federal lawsuit that centered on the rideshare company's charging an extra "wait-time fee" for disabled passengers, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.

Federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit against Uber in November, alleging the company had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by adding a fee specifically for the disabled. The fee amounts varied from city to city and depended on how long the driver had to wait, the lawsuit stated. 

Federal officials argued that Uber shouldn't charge a customer more just because it takes someone a few extra minutes to get to their ride. 

"People with disabilities must have access to ridesharing services provided by Uber and similar companies without enduring discriminatory wait-time fees," Stephanie Hinds, a U.S. attorney for the Justice Department's Northern California district, said in a statement Monday. 

Uber launched its wait-time policy in a few cities in April 2016 then took it nationwide some time later, according to the agency. Under the federal settlement, Uber will no longer charge the fee. 

About $1.7 million of the settlement will go toward refunding 1,159 Uber customers who complained to Uber about the fee, court documents state. Another $500,000 will go toward compensating a separate group of customers who complained to the Justice Department. All told, some 65,000 Uber customers will get money as part of the agreement, the Justice Department said. 

"People with disabilities should not be made to feel like second-class citizens or punished because of their disability, which is exactly what Uber's wait-time fee policy did," Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, said in a statement. 

Uber said in a statement that it's pleased with the settlement, noting that the company had previously "made changes so that any rider who shares that they have a disability would have wait-time fees waived automatically."

"It has long been our policy to refund wait-time fees for riders with a disability when they alerted us that they were charged," the company said.

Uber also faces a separate lawsuit in which more than 500 women have alleged they were assaulted by drivers. In a complaint filed last week in San Francisco, the women said they were kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and in some cases beaten or raped.