Uber's background checks missed a murderer and other convicts

If you thought Uber's never-ending avalanche of legal troubles couldn't get any worse, you were wrong. According to Forbes, a suit filed by L.A. and San Francisco district attorneys has new evidence that Uber's roster of local drivers have included felons who committed sexual assault, kidnapping and even murder.

Prosecutors say that the ride-hailing service isn't nearly thorough enough with its background checks. From Forbes:

They looked at the criminal histories of drivers cited for illegal pickups at the Los Angeles International Airport and found that they included 22 drivers with past felony convictions or misdemeanor drunken driving convictions and three drivers who were using another person’s account to drive — that of a cousin, brother, or the person leasing them the car.

According to Uber's official policy, the company doesn't hire anyone with a conviction less than seven years old. Uber's website states:

Every system of background checks that is available today has its flaws.  But we believe that the procedures used by Uber and other TNCs stack up well against the alternatives in terms of safety—while not disadvantaging people who may have been arrested but never charged.

Despite this, attorneys turned up drivers with serious convictions (for example, burglary and dealing meth) that were less than seven years old. One driver was sentenced with second-degree murder in 1982, paroled in 2008 and driving under a false name (he's since been banned from Uber). Prosecutors are calling this a "consumer protection suit" and pushing the company for background checks using biometrics.