Uber, the ride-hailing company, has been in various battles with city governments across the nation regarding the screening process for their ride-sharing drivers.
Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, spoke with Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser to President Obama, at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit about his reluctance to implement fingerprint background checks for his drivers.
While fingerprint-based background checks can cost a lot of money, as well as slow the on-boarding process, Kalanick states the reason for not implementing the checks was to limit the exposure for people who have been trapped unfairly by the US criminal justice system. "Imagine a country where people might get arrested who shouldn't get a arrested. Imagine if that country were the US. We have systems in place where if you're arrested, you literally can't get work, even if you're found to be innocent. And it's unjust."
Kalanick insists that Uber gives people a better chance of employment by using other background check methods, but during the interview did not provide support as to why these types of checks were an improvement for employ-ability.
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