Uber and Lyft Win Court Order Blocking New York City Driver Deactivation Law

Uber, Lyft score court win after law mandating advance notice for driver deactivation is temporarily blocked. A New York judge temporarily halted a city law that would have forced ride-hailing companies to give drivers warning before deactivating or suspending their accounts, a ruling that puts on hold regulation as Uber and Lyft continue to fight it in court. Uber and Lyft successfully sued to prevent New York City's regulation that required drivers be notified 30 days before being deactivated or having their accounts suspended before the law's scheduled enactment on Thursday.

The city's Department of Consumer Affairs said the new rule for drivers working for ride-sharing services like Uber, Lyft and others was necessary to bring more transparency and protections for app-based drivers.

"Today's ruling is a victory for drivers and consumers in New York City. By providing advance notice of account deactivations, companies like Uber and Lyft are held to higher standards of accountability," said David Grubb, communications director for Taxi & Limousine Commission in the mayor's office. City Councilmember, whom sponsored bill, said the deactivation law would make app-based taxi companies more fair. "We have no business allowing drivers to lose their livelihoods on short notice without fair warning or justification," [said] the council member [in May,].

The city's regulation requires that companies give drivers 30 days' notice before they are deactivated from the platform, outline reasons for the deactivation, and allow drivers the opportunity to respond.

Under the law, a company would only be able to deactivate a driver's account with less than 30 days' notice for a specific set of violations such as driver assault or passenger kidnapping, the commission has said. "Uber and Lyft have stated that the ability to suspend or deactivate driver accounts when warranted quickly - such as when a driver is a threat to public safety or engaging in fraud - is essential to maintaining the safety and integrity of our platforms," said a spokeswoman for Uber in July. "We believe that the city's deactivation law is overbroad and will undermine these efforts while imposing significant operational burdens."

A judge issued an injunction that blocks the deactivation law while it and another regulation from Uber are litigated.