Uber Driver in RI Slams Company for Separate Bathrooms for Drivers and Employees

Uber Driver in RI Slams Company for Separate Bathrooms for Drivers and Employees

An Uber driver in Rhode Island took to Twitter to post a picture of bathrooms in the Providence office that showed one bathroom for drivers — and one for Uber office employees. 

“The @Uber hub in my market has designated bathrooms. Not for male/female, but for partner & employees. Anyone else think it’s strange that Uber views partners & employees as two separate classes of people?” Tweeted Erika Betts. 

Uber drivers are called "partners" -- and are separate from actual Uber company "employees". 

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A representative from Uber immediately responded. 

“Hi Erika — I looked into this. This is not our policy and it’s absolutely unacceptable. The signs are coming down. The signs are coming down today,” Tweeted Andrew Macdonald, who says he’s the SVP Global Rides & Platform Ops for Uber in his Twitter bio. 

The incident, however, picked up steam — and attention — garnering the ire of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Siri, show me what classism looks like,” Tweeted AOC, in response to Brian Merchant’s Tweet which stated, “Uber didn’t want its white collar employees to have to wash their hands in the same sink as its gig worker drivers. This really tells you everything you need to know about Uber.”

Driver Just Wants Job Back

On Thursday, Betts spoke with GoLocalProv about the unfolding situation — and how it all really stemmed from her looking to get her job back. 

Betts, who grew up in Middletown and now lives in Providence, said she started driving part-time for Uber three years ago, but soon started driving full time. 

“I’ve got over 4,000 trips under my belt,” she said. “The majority of my drivers have reported having a pleasant driving experience with me."

Betts said that last Sunday, when a snowstorm came through the northeast, that a rider had reported her — and Betts said the charge was fraud, but her status as a driver was deactivated. 

“It was a crazy fare that day with the surge,” said Betts. “They reported me in an attempt to get a refund.”

So Betts went to the Uber "Greenlight Hub" on Smith Street in Providence to talk with a representative — where she had noticed the doors before. 

“I’d been waiting for a while to see the rep,” she said. “When I saw the employee had a key for their bathroom, that made me think, “wow.”

Betts said the response to her Tweet has been overwhelming — with some people supporting her, and others not. 

“I had no clue that my Tweet would have gotten that kind of attention,” said Betts. “[My Twitter] is pretty dedicated to Uber and the gig economy. It was kind of casual Tweet.”