California regulators seeking to address sexual harassment and assault in the ride-share industry are moving forward with proposed regulations despite pushback from Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc., and victim advocacy groups.
The California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees ride-share companies in the state, is set to vote Thursday on adopting new definitions of harassment and assault.
The state says the move will help Uber and Lyft track and report incidents. But ride-share companies and victim advocates alike argue the proposed regulations, based on state criminal and employment law, don’t translate to the gig economy. And failing to adopt the right guidelines will undercut the reporting of assaults and make it harder to provide the right resources to help passengers and train drivers, they say.
The vote is the latest in a years-long battle over ride-share company oversight in California. The focus has been on driver and rider safety and concerns about the CPUC’s lack of expertise in investigating sexual assaults, which number in the thousands annually among rideshare passengers, according to company reports.
“Standardizing definitions is a step in the right direction, but the biggest problem is the proposal doesn’t view the victim as a trauma survivor,” said Stephen Estey, a partner at Estey & Bomberger LLP in San Diego, who...
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