Uber drivers in New York claim that the ride-hailing service still owes them millions of dollars despite a significant reimbursement that was granted to them last week, after Uber admitted to miscalculating commission fees on rides for years.
A number of the drivers are not settling for Uber’s reimbursement, which averaged about $900 per driver, and have filed an amended complaint in order to receive what they feel is their proper compensation. If the courts rule in their favor, it could tack on millions more to Uber’s payout, which already could reach as high as $45 million, according to an estimate from the Wall Street Journal.
Some drivers think the recent payout was intended to distract others from a much greater error committed by Uber. They claim that Uber subtracted sales tax from their own wages, rather than the consumer.
“They are trying to cop to the cheaper fix rather than admitting the larger problem with taking out the sales tax from driver’s pay when they should have been assessing it on top of the fare,” Uber driver Tim Cavaretta told Gizmodo. “I think they thought they could get away with it. Now that they know they are clearly caught on that count, they are trying to appease drivers with that and hope we don’t stick it to them on the larger issue.”
Uber continues to deny these allegations, however.
“Uber calculates and has calculated sales tax and Black Car Fund correctly,” an Uber spokesperson told Gizmodo. “This topic is the subject of ongoing litigation and we cannot discuss the specifics except to say that the claims made are meritless and we are confident we will prevail in court.”