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Woman sues Uber for discrimination following repeated guide dog refusals
A Victorian woman has filed legal action against Uber, alleging that the company’s drivers violated disability discrimination laws by refusing her more than 30 trips because of her guide dog.
Grace Robbie
Paula Hobley, a blind woman who relies on her guide dog Vonda, took legal action against Uber in the Federal Court last month, accusing the rideshare giant of violating national disability discrimination laws.
This follows over a year of repeated refusals by Uber drivers between March 2021 and November 2022, during which Hobley was denied service 32 times after informing drivers that she would be travelling with her guide dog.
Despite reporting each incident to Uber, Hobley revealed that the “refusals continued”, with no significant action taken by the company to address the issue or prevent further occurrences.
Living in regional Victoria and unable to drive, Hobley relies on ridesharing services like Uber to manage daily activities, including socialising, shopping, attending medical appointments, and generally getting around.
The Justice and Equity Centre, representing Hobley, initially lodged a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission regarding the alleged discrimination by Uber and its drivers.
When the commission’s conciliation process failed to resolve the matter, Hobley and the Justice and Equity Centre escalated the complaint by filing the case in the Federal Court.
Under the Disability Discrimination Act (1992), it is unlawful for a business to refuse services or discriminate against an individual on the grounds of their disability, including when the individual uses an assistance animal.
However, the law places the responsibility on individuals with disabilities to formally report each instance of such refusals to the relevant regulatory authority.
In Victoria, where Hobley lives, individual Uber drivers can face a fine of up to $480 for refusing service to a person who has an assistance dog, although penalties differ across states and territories.
Hobley has expressed her frustration with Uber’s handling of the situation, stating: “I’m furious that Uber appears to take a ‘softly softly’ approach with drivers.”
The impact of Uber drivers cancelling on her is profound, revealing that “if I can’t find a driver who will take me to essential appointments, my only other option is a long, indirect trip on public transport. It takes me just 10 minutes to get to one of my appointments by car but nearly an hour on the bus.”
The repeated “stressful and anxiety-provoking” cancellations have left Hobley having to “carefully weigh the risk of a cancellation and the personal cost of that against the benefit of doing an activity”.
“I avoid going out at night if I have to rely on a rideshare or taxi service because there’s a risk I won’t be able to get home safely,” Hobley said.
Hobley reiterated that she is “not asking for special treatment”, but simply wants “drivers to do their job and Uber to enforce that”.
“I need to be able to travel without stress and considerable pre-planning, just like most people do. This is a right, not a privilege. Uber needs to ensure its service doesn’t discriminate against people with [disabilities], including people like me who rely on assistance dogs for our independence,” Hobley said.
Jonathon Hunyor, CEO of the Justice and Equity Centre, has voiced his concern about Uber’s apparent disregard for Australian law.
“The law in Australia is clear: a business providing a service cannot discriminate against a person with a disability. This sort of repeated conduct by Uber’s drivers shows it’s a problem the company needs to fix,” Hunyor said.
“Uber needs to ensure that people with [disabilities] can use its service like everyone else and not be refused a ride because of their disability.”
The issue of discrimination against individuals with assistance dogs is not unique to Hobley, with Lee Kumutat, national advocacy and policy manager at Guide Dogs, highlighting that “refusals by rideshare drivers and taxis continue to happen too regularly”.
“When Guide Dog Handlers talked to us about challenges, nearly 50 per cent of them said they had issues with a rideshare or taxi company in the past two years. Over one-third said their taxi or rideshare was cancelled, while another 15 per cent were ridiculed or discriminated against in some other way in rideshare situations,” Kumutat said.
