ٹیکسی اینڈ لیموزین کمیشن نیویار ک کیخلاف مقدمے کی کامیابی، ٹیکسی ڈرائیورزکو حصہ ملے گا

 ”نیویارک ٹیکسی ورکرز الائنس “ (NYTWA) کا فیڈرل کورٹ سے جیتنے والے لاءسوٹ میں نیویارک کے مخصوص ٹی ایل سی ڈرائیونگ لائسنس کے حامل ٹیکسی ڈرائیورز کو حصہ ملے گا تاہم یہ حصہ انہیں ٹیکسی ڈرائیورز کو ملے گا کہ جو 13جنوری 2023تک اپنی رجسٹریشن کروائیں گے

نیویارک ( محسن ظہیر سے ) نیویارک سٹی میں ٹیکسی اور لیموزین وغیرہ کو” ریگولیٹ “کرنے والے ادارے ”ٹیکسی اینڈ لیموزین کمیشن “(ٹی ایل سی ۔TLC) کی جانب سے ، نیویارک کے ٹیکسی ڈرائیورز کی نمائندہ یونین (تنظیم ) ”نیویارک ٹیکسی ورکرز الائنس “ (NYTWA) کا فیڈرل کورٹ سے جیتنے والے لاءسوٹ میں نیویارک کے مخصوص ٹی ایل سی ڈرائیونگ لائسنس کے حامل ٹیکسی ڈرائیورز کو حصہ ملے گا تاہم یہ حصہ انہیں ٹیکسی ڈرائیورز کو ملے گا کہ جو 13جنوری 2023تک اپنی رجسٹریشن کروائیں گے ۔

”نیویارک ٹیکسی ورکرز الائنس “ کے شریک بانی جاوید طارق نے اردو نیوز سے خصوصی بات چیت کے دوران کہا ہے کہ گذشتہ کئی سالوں کے دوران ”ٹی ایل سی “ کی جانب سے یہ پریکٹس رہی کہ ایسے ٹیکسی لیموزین ڈرائیورز (ٹی ایل سی ڈرائیورز ) جو گرفتار ہوتے تھے ، ٹی ایل سی کی جانب سے ان کی گرفتاری کے کیس کے فیصلے سے قبل ہی ان کا ٹی ایل سی ڈرائیونگ لائسنس معطل کردیا جاتا تھا۔

ٹی ایل سی کی اس پریکٹس کے خلاف ”ٹیکسی ورکرز الائنس “ کی جانب سے نیویارک میں فیڈرل کورٹ میں مقدمہ (لاءسوٹ ) دائر کیا گیا اور یہ موقف اختیار کیا گیا کہ آئین کی رو سے کوئی بھی شخص اس وقت تک بے قصور تصور کیا جاتا ہے کہ جب تک اس کے خلاف الزام ثابت نہ ہو جائے ۔

جاوید طارق کا مزید کہنا ہے کہ ”نیویارک ٹیکسی ورکرز الائنس “ کا فیڈرل کورٹ میں موقف تھا کہ ٹی ایل سی کو مذکورہ نوعیت کے ٹی ایل سی ڈرائیورز کے ٹی ایل سی لائسنس معطل نہیں کر سکتی ۔

فیڈرل کورٹ کی جانب سے ”نیویارک ٹیکسی ورکرز الائنس “ کے حق میں سال 2019میں مذکورہ مقدمہ کا فیصلہ دیا گیا ۔

جاوید طارق کا کہنا ہے کہ ٹی ایل سی کی مذکورہ پالیسی کے تحت گذشتہ سالوں میں 20ہزار ڈرائیورز کے ٹی ایل سی لائسنس معطل کئے گئے ۔

فیڈرل کورٹ کے فیصلے کے تحت مذکورہ نوعیت کے کیس کے حامل ایسے ٹی ایل سی ڈرائیورزکہ جن کے ٹی ایل سی لائسنس سال 2003اور سال 2020کے دوران معطل کئے گئے ، کو 13جنوری 2023سے پہلے خود کو رجسٹر کروانا ہوگا اور یہ بتانا ہو گا کہ ان کا لائسنس کب اور کتنے عرصے کے لئے معطل رہا ۔ اس عمل سے جو اعداد و شمار مرتب ہوں گے ، ان کو پیش نظر رکھتے ہوئے فیصلہ کیا جائیگا کہ ٹی ایل سی کی مذکورہ پالیسی سے کس ڈرائیورز کو کتنی ”کمپن سییشن“(compensation) ملے گی ۔ جو ڈرائیورز رجسٹرڈ نہیں کروائیں گے ، انہیں ”کمپن سییشن“(compensation) کے وقت حصہ نہیں ملے گا۔

متاثرہ ٹی ایل سی ڈرائیورز رجسٹریشن کے لئے درج ذیل معلومات سے مستفید ہو سکتے ہیں ۔

Drivers who were suspended by the TLC upon an arrest between 2003 to 2020 can sign up for a damages hearing, regardless of status of criminal case, by visiting tlcsuspensioncase.com, by emailing tlcsuspensioncase@llrlaw.com o

r calling Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. at 929-477-9200.
Class members can also reach out to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance at 718-706-9892 or TLCCase@nytwa.org

5,600+ Drivers in Class Action Lawsuit Sign Up for Money Damages Hearings after the TLC Unconstitutionally Suspended Licenses
Drivers spoke out about how their lives and livelihoods were destroyed by unjust suspensions
Attorneys are calling on all impacted drivers to sign up for money damages hearings by the January 13 deadlin
New York, NY: On Monday, December 12, NYC professional drivers and their attorneys held a press conference in Foley Square to share their devastating stories of lives and livelihoods destroyed by the TLC’s unconstitutional suspension-on-arrest regime. Attorneys announced that more than 5,600 members of a class action lawsuit have signed up for individual damages hearings where a federal appeals court has already held that the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission suspension program violated their constitutional rights.
A federal judge has ruled that only the class members who sign up for a hearing will be able to get back money they lost because of the suspension. Attorneys are calling on all class members to sign up before the January 13th, 2023 deadline.
*** Drivers who were suspended by the TLC upon an arrest between 2003 to 2020 can sign up for a damages hearing, regardless of status of criminal case, by visiting tlcsuspensioncase.com, by emailing tlcsuspensioncase@llrlaw.com or calling Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C. at 929-477-9200. Class members can also reach out to the New York Taxi Workers Alliance at 718-706-9892 or TLCCase@nytwa.org. ***
Nearly 20,000 taxi drivers were suspended based on arrests alone– before the drivers were convicted or even tried and without any consideration of the driver’s record or the facts underlying the arrest. NYTWA and a group of drivers filed a lawsuit in 2006 challenging the constitutionality of the TLC’s suspensions of drivers’ licenses upon arrest. In 2019, a federal appeals court found the suspension policy unconstitutional. Soon after, a federal district court certified this case as a class action including drivers who were suspended between 2003 and 202
Driver and class action plaintiff Edisson Damian said, “Two weeks after the TLC unconstitutionally suspended my license, I found myself with no food in my refrigerator. I was the sole provider for my wife and four kids. When you’re poor in New York City, just a few days without income is enough to push you into hunger and debt. My two sons told me, ‘dad you promised that you were going to put us on a baseball team.’ I tried to explain what was going on, that we didn’t have the money, but children don’t understand that. They take parents at our word when we make promises. One of my sons said, ‘Dad, you lied to me’ and I cried because I couldn’t keep my word. There’s no amount of money that can make up for the trauma and suffering the TLC put my family and me through when they violated my rights.”
Mr. Damian was arrested after being the victim of an assault while buying milk and cereal for his kids, and, while a judge found him innocent only one day later, he had to separately prove his innocence to the TLC before his license was reinstated.
“When my license was suspended I couldn’t pay my bills and I got into a lot of debt. I felt like I had no rights, like there was no justice, because I was presumed guilty before I could prove my innocence, even though I had no criminal record or previous arrests. The TLC treated me like a parasite and it was degrading and dehumanizing,” said black car driver and class action plaintiff Alvaro Crow whose license was suspended after TLC officers arrested him soliciting rides while he was waiting for a scheduled passenger at the airport. Mr. Crow was eventually proven innocent but lost his income for months while awaiting justice.

NYTWA and legal teams estimate that as many as 90 percent of the cases against drivers were found to be without merit or reduced to infractions, but drivers collectively lost over 3 million days of work from these suspensions between 2003 to 2020. The average duration of a suspension was 230 days, and more than 1300 drivers who were suspended for 1000 days or more. Misdemeanors made up 70% of the arrest charges, and probably 80% of the alleged crimes were off-duty. Nevertheless, before the Court of Appeals ruled, not a single driver was reinstated through the TLC’s sham hearing process.

Bhairavi Desai, NYTWA Executive Director (NYTWA is one of the plaintiffs): “Drivers’ lives were turned upside down, some to the point of ruin, from losing their jobs overnight. NYC professional drivers are mostly immigrants of color, and their rights were trampled on. Many could not properly defend their innocence in court because they accepted plea bargains just to get the license back. Many couldn’t visit their families back home, or sponsor families to their new home. You can’t turn back the clock and make up for all of that suffering. Recovering the loss of income is just a token of what the city owes drivers for taking away a right that most Americans enjoy and all Americans take pride in – the presumption of innocence. The city can atone by paying the damages to the whole class of 20,000 and doing so now, immediately, with no further delays or hurdles.”

“The more you look at this entire suspension regime the more rotten it gets. I would say that not one in 50 of the suspensions are in any way justified in the first place. And even a 10 minute pre-suspension review of the arrest and the driver’s record would tell you that. This case has taken way too long, but it finally got to the right place, said attorney Dan Ackman. “Our hope now is that the court will find a way to award damages quickly and fairly and to as many victims as possible.”

Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan said, “For far too long, the City has been mistreating professional drivers and depriving them and their families of their livelihood. The court has found in favor of the drivers and it’s time for the City to finally recognize that, treat them fairly, and compensate them for their losses.”Attorney David Goldberg said, “The practices at the heart of this case are cruel and pointless. That the City’s government has, for decades, maintained and defended them is a shameful injustice—one rooted in failure to respect the humanity of tens of thousands of hard-working immigrant New Yorkers who toil daily, under harsh conditions, to provide services that make life easier for the City’s most privileged residents.”