IRIS is a rideshare program, similar to an Uber or Lyft, that Kansas City uses to help riders fill the gaps of public transit.
The service is managed through zTrip, which refers to drivers as independent contractors. But workers have said they're not being given either the freedom and flexibility of being self employed, nor the benefits of full employment.
Bakah Mohamed, who drives for IRIS, said workers were misled about pay during orientation. On the road, he alleges drivers are told when to take breaks and who to pick up.
Mohamed says IRIS drivers are charged predatory fees and regularly have to work more than 40 hours a week.
"You know, the reality is very different once you're in it," Mohamed said. "The fact that the rates, these predatory fees that they're charging drivers, we can't make our own schedules. There's just so much oversight, so much control, that this doesn't really feel like independent contracting job."
Attorney Gina Chiala told KCUR's Up To Date that based on the amount of control by the employer, the drivers should legally be classified as employees, but zTrip is circumventing those protections.
Workers demanded the right to unionize last year and now, they have filed a class action lawsuit.
"We've watched them make demands upon their employer about how they should be treated, and this lawsuit is just an escalation of their fight so that they can get make some really concrete gains," Chiala said.
The long-term fate of IRIS is also unknown, as Kansas City contends with a budget shortfall for the KCATA.
- Bakar Mohamed, driver, IRIS
- Gina Chiala, executive director and attorney at law, Heartland Center for Jobs and Freedom
