Elena Zerkal isn’t shy about tooting her personal horn over the 11 years she spent behind the wheel as a for-hire car driver.
“Five-star ratings, professional, I never had any problems,” she stated. “Best ratings, best customer service review, everything.”
However the former Lyft driver says that observe file didn’t spare her from being “dumped out of nowhere” by the app-based ride-hailing service final 12 months after she advised a male passenger in Midtown East that she was not comfy driving him as he berated a feminine companion within the again seat.
“I felt so bad for this girl and I intervened and I said, ‘Excuse me sir, I don’t appreciate that you’re insulting the lady in front of me, I don’t feel comfortable driving you,’” Zerkal advised The Metropolis Reporter. “And while my car is still in slow motion on 57th Street going west, he gets out, slams the door and yells, ‘You f—— b—-.”
Driver Elena Zerkal misplaced her job with Lyft final 12 months and joined a protest towards driver deactivations in Decrease Manhattan, July 14, 2026. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/The Metropolis Reporter
Inside minutes of dropping off the lady, Zerkal stated, she was notified that she had been minimize off from the app, deactivated by Lyft over what she contends is a false accusation of assault from the male passenger.
“The guy complained that I touched his genitalia, they completely shut down my comms,” stated Zerkal, who now drives for 2 black automotive providers. “I got dumped out of nowhere for this false claim that I touched him.”
The 54-year-old Queens grandmother was amongst near 200 for-hire car drivers who protested in Decrease Manhattan Tuesday over authorized maneuvering by Uber and Lyft to dam a metropolis regulation that’s designed to guard operators from being abruptly booted off the ride-hailing apps. The Metropolis Council accredited an identical measure for app-based meals supply employees final 12 months.
The sponsor of what’s often called Native Regulation 52, Councilmember Shekar Krishnan (D-Queens), described the battle between the drivers and the tech giants as “money versus the many, the corporate power versus the people power.”
“Over and over again, Uber and Lyft have thrown everything at us,” Krishnan stated. “They have tried to block our legislation, they have gotten a former mayor in Eric Adams to veto our legislation, but every time, we have stood up, we have fought back and we have won.”
The New York Taxi Employees Alliance and Krishnan rallied exterior of Uber’s Decrease Manhattan headquarters two days earlier than a listening to in federal court docket, saying the drivers deserve some due course of as an alternative of being abruptly deactivated by the apps.
“You could have worked for Uber and Lyft for 10 years with a spotless record,” stated Bhairavi Desai, government director of the taxi employees alliance. “And within a second and without even a moment’s notice, they will discard you as if you never existed at all.”
The 2 corporations filed go well with in federal court docket final month to problem a regulation overwhelmingly accredited by the Metropolis Council in January — and which is about to take impact July 28. The measure would bar the ride-hailing apps from slicing off employees with out “just cause” and require them to offer advance discover earlier than deactivating a driver.
Md Azizul Haque, who drove for Uber from 2018 to mid-2019, stated he’s nonetheless at nighttime about why he was minimize off from the app.
Md Azizul Haque spoke at a protest exterior Uber’s World Commerce Heart headquarters about his earlier deactiviation from the app, July 14, 2026. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/The Metropolis Reporter
“This law would give me an opportunity to find out the reason why I got deactivated,” Haque advised The Metropolis Reporter. “And also I would get a fair hearing about my issues.”
The businesses contend that the regulation may power them to maintain unhealthy drivers who’re a risk to passenger and public security.
“Let me be clear: We do not deactivate a user because we want to, we do it because we need to and it’s always a last resort,” Josh Gold, an Uber spokesperson, testified to The Metropolis Council in 2024. “We do it to help ensure everyone who uses Uber can have a safe and reliable experience.”
In an unsigned assertion Tuesday, Uber referred to as the brand new regulation “reckless” and stated it may strip the corporate of its proper to bounce “potentially dangerous drivers and fraudsters” from the app.
“This unconstitutional legislation seeks to force us to keep our platform open to individuals accused of misconduct and compromises rider privacy by requiring the disclosure of sensitive safety reports to the very individuals accused of abuse,” the corporate stated.
Haque, who now drives a yellow taxi, stated the rationale for his deactivation “is still a mystery” to him, whereas Zerkal stated she would welcome the prospect for a listening to into why she was canned.
“Nobody wants to talk to me, they don’t care,” she stated. “They completely cut me off from my livelihood.”
Extra reporting by Claudia Irizarry Aponte
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