Uber faces suspension of its license to operate in the state of California within 30 days and up to $7.3 million in fines for refusing to comply with state laws, according to a judge.
The law requires Uber to hand over operational data regarding requests for accessibility to the California Public Utilities Commission under a 2013 law that legalized ride-hailing services in the state, but Uber’s subsidiary Rasier-CA, which handles that data for Uber in California, has so far refused to do so.
The CPUC gave ride-hailing services Lyft, Sidecar and Uber one year to comply. According to the commission, Uber is the only one that refused to hand over the proper information regarding accessibility.
However, Uber said it did provide the proper information under the law, but the CPUC then asked for more information that would compromise the privacy of its users.
“This ruling–and the associated fine–are deeply disappointing,” said Uber spokesperson Eva Behrend. “We will appeal the decision as Uber has already provided substantial amounts of data to the California Public Utilities Commission, information we have provided elsewhere with no complaints. Going further risks compromising the privacy of individual riders as well as driver-partners. These CPUC requests are also beyond the authority of the Commission and will not improve public safety.”
Uber continues to face numerous legal issues throughout the world – including a suit in both California and Texas that claims drivers have discriminated against the disabled and refused to give rides to blind people with service dogs.
Uber denied responsibility in these cases and said those who do refuse to serve the disabled are fired or suspended. The ride-hailing service now plans to take action on the CPUC order asking for accessibility information.