Courier takes Uber Eats to court over ‘racist’ facial recognition app

A FOOD courier is suing Uber Eats claiming its facial recognition app is “racist” in an employment tribunal that could grant all riders UK worker rights.

Pa Manjang claims he was dismissed after he failed a facial recognition check, which all drivers must do by taking a selfie to check-in for work.

The Londoner, who is black and moved from the Gambia to the UK in 2011, said he was “asked to take photos of myself multiple times a day”, and told Ubereats: “Your algorithm by the looks of things is racist.”

The proceedings will be a “test case” for whether couriers should be classed as workers instead of self-employed, who are not granted the same legal protections against discrimination at work, Mr Manjang’s solicitor said yesterday.

Paul Jennings, a partner at Bates Wells, added that his client’s treatment by the delivery giant felt “Kafkaesque”.

Mr Manjang is supported by the Equal Opportunities Commission and the App Drivers & Couriers Union, which last year won a Supreme Court ruling that Uber must treat its drivers as “workers”.

Mr Jennings said: “Part of this dispute is whether couriers are workers and are protected in the same way that Uber drivers were found to be workers.

“It’s off the back of that success in the Supreme Court that this next phase is now being pursued to try and extend those protections to couriers.”

In April 2020, Uber introduced an automated ID system whereby drivers must take a selfie, which is then compared to the one on their profile.

Mr Manjang said the software failed to recognise the selfies as being of him, and in April last year Uber Eats emailed him to say he was permanently suspended for “sharing” his account.

A judge has dismissed an attempt by Uber Eats, along with Uber London and Uber Portier BV, to have the case thrown out after the driver brought claims of race harassment and race discrimination to an employment tribunal.

Alison Frazer, the employment judge, ruled the full case should go ahead at the East London tribunal.

An Uber spokesperson said: “Automated facial verification was not the reason for Mr Manjang’s temporary loss of access to his courier account. Our Real-time ID Check … includes robust human review to make sure that we’re not making decisions about someone’s livelihood in a vacuum, without oversight.”