The drivers represent the company and all interactions with the driver are setup through the company. So, yes.

ie: If a driver snatches my backpack and drives away, I expect Uber to replace/return what was stolen from me by their contractor. Not for them to just tell me to take a hike and deal with it myself.

So there is absolutely nothing a company can do to absolve themselves of the poor behavior of employees? By that system, Uber would still be at fault if they explicitly told all drivers "you are not allowed to deny service to someone with a service dog under any circumstances", and a driver did anyway.

Uber specifically placed itself in the role of intermediary. I don't have a phone book of drivers numbers and I don't pay a driver. I have the Uber app and I pay Uber.

They want the money, part of earning it is accepting responsibility and liability.

Why in the world is anyone even remotely worried about the plight of poor Uber? Holy cow.

> So there is absolutely nothing a company can do to absolve themselves of the poor behavior of employees?

Let's disregard the absolutism for a bit. Generally companies are held accountable for the way their employees behave on the job. If they don't make or enforce policies, that's on Uber. It's clearly a widespread problem for them. The saying goes "the buck stops here" despite what these companies may do to avoid responsibility.

I'm not saying the company is necessarily at fault.

What I am saying is that I deal with the company not the individual (especially in this case as that is literally Uber's entire business).

If an Uber drive assaults, injures, and robs me I expect Uber to get back to me with "We have brought this matter to the appropriate authorities please follow up with [individual] at [my local police]" rather than "That wholly independent contractor's name is [driver name]. Good luck"

edit: I would also expect a good company to cover any expenses I incur from the incident as well as replace stolen property.

Not really. The only thing a company can do is let their commercial liability insurance bear the costs. That's why it's such a big deal to document, document, document and force all employees to undergo certain training repeatedly throughout the year.

That way the business can show the insurance companies that they did all they could to prevent the employee from the error so that the insurer is liable for the expenses.

It's called the cost of doing business.

It's called suing deep pockets, not the persons actually liable.

That's how the legal system usually works. If a Walmart driver negligently runs you over when working for Walmart, there is nothing Walmart can do to not be responsible.

There's no special "I told my staff not to run people over!" exception that a Walmart supervisor can claim.

Uber has chosen this as a business model. Nobody forced them to hire thousands upon thousands of people with zero vetting and send them out to deliver rides. It may be that this business model doesn't work.