‘Heartbreaking': Rideshare drivers say they were suddenly deactivated, left jobless

When Ceresa Cohran, a rideshare driver in Chicago, opened the Uber app on April 6, 2024, to start her day, she was surprised to find that she was deactivated. The day before had been a good one for Cohran, driving several passengers and maintaining her 4.92-star rating as a driver, but overnight, she had been fired by the app without explanation.

After three weeks of seeking information from Uber about her deactivation, Cohran learned she had been deactivated due to an allegation of spitting on a passenger on April 5, which she denies ever happened. 

Without a clear process to appeal the allegation, Cohran turned to driving for Lyft but was deactivated from the app two weeks later via an email from the rideshare company stating, "We do not have information about the underlying incident."

The dual deactivations were tied to a Chicago law that dictates when one rideshare company deactivates a driver, the city immediately suspends what's called their "transportation network provider (TNP)" chauffeur license, effectively barring them from driving for any rideshare apps.

"It's heartbreaking," Cohran said. "It's still sad when I think about it, because I'm still dealing with everything that took place. My car was repossessed, I almost lost the house. I just didn't have any income."

Cohran, a single mother of four from Lansing, Illinois, was suddenly jobless and so distressed that she says she was not able to celebrate her son's high school graduation. 

Months after her deactivation, Cohran decided to take action and sue Uber, Lyft and the city of Chicago in November 2024 for defamation, tortious interference and negligence, among other allegations.

"I just felt wronged, like I was violated, and I just knew this can't be legal," Cohran said. "This can't be right the way I was done, like just overnight."

Cohran's not the only rideshare driver who feels they were deactivated unfairly.

JC Muhammad, a part-time Uber and Lyft driver for seven years, said conditions for drivers have deteriorated over the past 10 years. He said he was deactivated in 2021 after he received a complaint from a passenger who asked him to break several traffic laws on their ride.

"We don't get an opportunity to face our accusers, so to speak," Muhammad said. "And then some of the accusations are just plain false."

Chicago's TNP law allows for deactivated drivers to appeal through a hearing process before their TNP chauffeur license is revoked.

However, drivers have alleged rideshare apps bypass this process by deactivating drivers immediately after an allegation, automatically suspending their chauffeur license without a clear way to appeal the decision. 

In fact, data obtained from the city through a Freedom of Information Act request made by DePaul's Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence shows only 3.7% of rideshare drivers in the last five years had their TNP chauffeur license reinstated once it was deactivated.

According to data from the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP), 20,659 rideshare drivers in Chicago were deactivated by Lyft and Uber and lost their TNP chauffeur license from 2019 to 2024. The number of TNP chauffeur license deactivations increased by 1,300% in that five-year timeframe.

This is an unintended consequence of the city's TNP law that was passed by city leaders to keep drivers and riders safe more than a decade ago, according to critics who are working to fix the loophole in the law by passing a new ordinance.

Patching up the holes

Lori Simmons, the lead organizer of The People's Lobby, a workers' justice nonprofit, was a rideshare driver in 2014 and said she liked the flexibility that rideshare driving offered. But in 2018, she and other drivers noticed things were going "downhill" and started organizing for better worker protection, safety and pay.

"We want there to be a fair process. We want there to be a process by which the customer … and the driver feels like their concerns have been heard," Simmons said. "And right now, I don't think either group feels like their concerns are being heard."

She said the companies do not offer adequate resources to help drivers when they are deactivated.

"You can't call the phone number for drivers, you can't go to an office. You have to communicate with this special deactivation group by email only," Simmons said. "So you can imagine, most people just never hear back from them."

Drivers can be deactivated for several reasons, including allegations of sexual misconduct, illegal drug possession and assault or battery. However, in what critics call a "catch-all" category in the TNP rulebook, drivers may also be deactivated for "conduct that gave rise to a public safety concern not itemized" in the language of the law.

According to data from the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protections, 4,131 drivers have been deactivated for that same "public safety concern" since 2019, which makes it the third-highest reason for deactivation.

Critics say the TNP ordinance unintentionally created a broad category for drivers to be fired by the app for no specific reason.

Simmons says this unintended consequence of the law has only recently become clear.

"It wasn't something that was publicly reported," Simmons said, adding that rideshare companies only started sharing this data with the city in the last six years.

Matthew Custardo, Cohran's attorney, said while some criteria for deactivation are understandable, the "catch-all" category is confusing.

"The last rule … 'if your conduct gave rise to a public safety concern,' what does that mean?" Custardo said. "It's just such a general, vague term that they don't have to define, they don't have to specify what your public safety concern was."

Shifting gears

There is optimism among deactivated rideshare drivers that this problem could be fixed with new legislation titled the "Chicago Rideshare Living Wage and Safety Ordinance" or the "FairShare Ordinance."

The People's Lobby is working to pass the new ordinance sponsored by Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd) which calls for increased wages for drivers, rider verification and creating standard procedures that rideshare apps must follow when deactivating drivers.

"We absolutely want to improve working conditions for rideshare drivers," Rodriguez said. "That includes making the deactivation process fair for drivers, while also ensuring that you know riders are safe."

According to organizer Simmons, the ordinance has "a supermajority" of alders who support it. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has not formally taken a position on the ordinance, according to his spokesperson.

Some aldermen are concerned about how the legislation could affect consumers and passengers. 

Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) has not publicly supported or opposed the ordinance. A spokesperson from his team said Ervin believes "drivers should have fair wages, benefits and an opportunity to ensure deactivations are done on a fair basis."

However, Ervin "is also mindful constituents on the West Side are facing dramatic cost increases while also being traditionally ignored by the taxi industry."

Joe Schwieterman, the director of DePaul’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, said while the city might want to impose regulation, the business model of rideshare companies does not necessarily allow for strict control.

"We want drivers to get a fair shake, but you start imposing lengthy appeals processes and so forth, and we could go too far, and let's just say there's not always a lot of confidence in City Hall that they'll get that balance exactly right," Schwieterman said. 

Lawmakers in other cities and states have created ordinances to protect deactivated drivers and provide better working conditions.

For example, in Seattle, Washington, the "App-Based Worker Deactivation Rights Ordinance," which took effect this year, protects app-based workers from being unfairly blocked or "deactivated" from using the apps by requiring a thorough investigation before drivers are dropped off the apps. 

Schwieterman said it can be difficult when each city has different laws for rideshare apps which need to operate similarly across the board to be successful.

"One of the real concerns is every city develops its own regulation, and rideshare companies are forced to tweak their models in every city based on the whims of what the city councilmen want," Schwieterman said. 

Driving for change

On Feb. 19, The People's Lobby organized a car caravan around City Hall to increase visibility for the proposed ordinance. Rideshare drivers met in a nearby Walgreens parking lot in the early morning hours and taped signs with messages such as "PROTECT CHICAGO RIDESHARE DRIVERS" and "RIDESHARE RIGHTS ARE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS" to their cars. 

As the caravan of drivers navigated the Loop to surround City Hall, former Uber driver Muhammad expressed hope that the fight for the ordinance might finally start to move in a positive direction.

"We think we're pretty close to the finish line, we really do," Muhammad said. "And the reason it ought to be interesting is because up until this point, the companies have been dead silent."

According to a spokesperson for the rideshare company Lyft, the company offers an appeals process for drivers in the app where deactivated drivers are able to request that Lyft "review the decision." 

The spokesperson added, "We may reactivate if there is new evidence or information that would change the original decision."

Uber did not respond to multiple requests to comment on Cohran's lawsuit or the company's deactivation process.

The city of Chicago did not provide comment about the appeals process for deactivated drivers. 

Attorneys representing the city of Chicago recently filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the case against it, saying "no City policy caused her injury." However, Custardo, Cohran's attorney, argues that the city should still be a party in the case.

"Chicago, not private companies, should decide whether a driver loses their license, but only after a fair hearing," Custardo said. 

Back in Lansing, Cohran's legal battle has come almost full circle. She is able to drive for Uber again after she settled with Uber. Other details of the settlement were not disclosed. 

The lawsuit is continuing to move forward against Lyft and the city of Chicago.

Cohran said since the allegation of spitting on someone is a serious offense, there should be a formal investigation process. She hopes to see more justice for drivers in the future.

"[It] would be good to just demand a little more accountability on riders and definitely some more due process for sure," Cohran said.

Contributing: LiLi Jarvenpa, lead writer; Nupur Bosmiya, Sabrina Castle, Kiersten Riedford, Aaliyah McFadden, Ryan Hinske, Josh Patt, Rose O'Keeffe. Alana Eve Schacher, Matthew Warakomski, reporters