The maze of policies and additional policies can get complicated quickly. First of all, most personal auto insurance plans do not cover workers when they drive hire cars. Second, payments vary according to the stage of the trip: Transporting passengers, commuting to pick them up, and waiting for a new ride can all come with different benefits. If a driver turns off the app to grab a snack or use the bathroom, their work policy will no longer apply. Some policies have exclusions for certain circumstances, such as physical assault. California Proposition 22 requires more coverage than laws in other states, including survivor benefits, but payments can still be denied for reasons such as error or participation in “personal activity.”
One evening this February, Agha Raza Ali received a phone call from her aunt. His 71-year-old uncle, Abdul Rauf Khan, came home late and she began to worry. Agha and Abdul run a limousine service together in the Washington, DC area, but after the pandemic hit their business, Abdul decided to drive for Lyft instead of being unemployed. “I had my health and my power, so I would work,” Agha recalls him saying. Police could not conduct a search until he had been missing for 12 hours, and Lyft would not have moved him without a subpoena. Agha had been driving searching for hours. Finally, around 3 a.m., the police arrived at his door. Abdul was shot during a carjacking and died. His 17-year-old passenger was arrested and reported admission killing.
The family is devastated. Abdul is like a father figure to Agha and a pillar of the local Pakistani community.
Abdul supports his wife and 17-year-old daughter. Because his policy doesn’t cover survivor benefits and wage replacement, they do it on their own. Abdul said Lyft told his brother they would volunteer to pay the funeral expenses. When asked why it offered to pay for Abdul and not Bella, Lyft did not comment on specific cases but said they strive to provide support based on the specific needs of each family. Uber also supports on a case-by-case basis.
Agha and his family did not want to ask the community for money, so family members tried to support his wife and daughter. “He’s the one who’s working, so now we have to figure out how to survive,” Agha said. He thinks Lyft “should understand that someone is working. They should be compensated if something like this happens, if he loses his life on the job.” In addition, he would like to see the company require identity verification for all passengers.
To address the crisis, GWR made four requirements: Payments to victims’ families equivalent to workers’ compensation; end forced arbitration, limit the evidence employees can gather when they file lawsuits, and keep information non-public; detailed transparent reporting of harassment, assault and deaths; and a union, allowing workers to bargain collectively on safety. In response, Lyft cited its annual safety report, its accessibility to victims, and the Drivers Advisory Council, which collects feedback from drivers.
The report adds a new dimension to the heated debate about copying Proposition 22, which aims to strengthen the status of app-based drivers as independent contractors. The companies are big spending to get a Proposition 22-style ballot measure passed in Massachusetts this fall and more is expected to follow. In addition to their meager protections, contract workers often receive low wages because of the risk they take, and their independent contractor status saves them from being subject to minimum wage laws.
Bella “lost her life on a trip [that totaled] $15,” Allyssa said. “And she won’t even see all that.”
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