{"id":61308,"date":"2025-12-04T23:52:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T23:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/61308\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T23:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T23:52:10","slug":"queens-lawmaker-expects-bill-guarding-against-deactivations-for-uber-lyft-drivers-to-get-vote-before-years-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/61308\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens lawmaker expects bill guarding against \u2018deactivations\u2019 for Uber\/Lyft drivers to get vote before year\u2019s end"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"queens\t\t\t<\/p>\n

City Council Member Shekar Krishnan rallied with Uber and Lyft drivers for his legislation aimed at strengthening their job protections. Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.<\/p>\n

Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

A Queens city lawmaker said on Thursday that he expects his legislation, aimed at\u00a0strengthening protections for Uber and Lyft drivers<\/a> from being kicked off the platforms through \u201cdeactivations,\u201d to receive a vote before the current City Council\u2019s session ends in two weeks.<\/p>\n

City Council Member Shekar Krishnan told amNewYork he believes the council will take up his bill, Intro. 276<\/a>, during its last full meeting scheduled for Dec. 18.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are moving forward with all deliberate speed to get this done before the end of the year,\u201d the council member said. \u201cWe\u2019re in the final stages of reviewing and finalizing legislation. My expectation is that by the end of this year, we\u2019ll have this done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Council member made the prediction following a rally with for-hire-vehicle drivers who say they were suddenly fired by Uber and Lyft without an explanation or process in place \u2014 a practice those affected call \u201cdeactivation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Uber and Lyft drivers who say they were unfairly deactivated by the apps rallying for a bill designed to boost their job protections. Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

The legislation is designed to guard against wrongful firings by placing the burden of proof on the apps in deactivation cases, requiring them to follow the standard for \u201cjust cause\u201d in such instances, mandating 14 days\u2019 notice, and instituting an independent appeals process.<\/p>\n

Proponents of the bill argue the current appeals process is controlled by the apps because it is run by the Independent Drivers Guild, which is funded by Uber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntro. 276 makes clear that every driver in this city must be given notice, must be given an opportunity to be heard, must know the charges against them before they are deactivated, not after,\u201d Krishnan said. \u201cIt makes sure that process is happening in front of a neutral arbiter and agency. So we don\u2019t have a situation where Uber and Lyft are the prosecutor, judge and jury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the rally, Krishnan and New York Taxi Workers Alliance Executive Director Bhairavi Desai stood shoulder to shoulder with drivers who shared stories of how they lost their livelihoods due to what they identified as unfair deactivation. They said the practice hampered their ability to pay rent, buy groceries, foot utility bills, and make car payments.<\/p>\n

Saif Aizah, a driver who claims he was deactivated by Uber, stated that he was unfairly removed from the app after the company falsely accused him of fraud, leaving him with no means to defend himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am drowning in so much debt that I filed for bankruptcy because of what unfair deactivation did to me,\u201d Aizah said. \u201cUnfair deactivation ruined my life.\u201d
\n\"\"Saif Aizah, a driver who says he was deactivated by Uber. Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell\n<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Uber and Lyft did not immediately respond to amNewYork\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

However, the IDG argued that the bill would have the opposite effect of its intended purpose.\n<\/p>\n

In a Thursday statement, IDG President Brendan Sexton claimed that by seeking to implement an independent appeals procedure, the measure would give the apps complete control over the process by moving it away from the guild.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not support any bill that hands power back to the companies or strips away the rights we spent years winning,\u201d Sexton said. \u201cThere is an easy fix the City Council can make to protect hardworking rideshare drivers\u00a0 \u2013 and we urge the bill sponsor to accept our amendments to do just that,\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Council Member Shekar Krishnan rallied with Uber and Lyft drivers for his legislation aimed at strengthening their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[32701,32702,32703,32704,32705,1776,9,24,16152,63,122,124,123,6480],"class_list":["post-61308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-bhairavi-desai","tag-brenden-sexton","tag-city-council-member-shekar-krishnan","tag-idg","tag-independent-drivers-guild","tag-lyft","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-taxi-workers-alliance","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-uber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}