Why Does My Uber Pay Show a Black Car Fund Charge?

Because it is a passenger charge that the app shows on your statement, not a cost to you. The Black Car Fund says its surcharge "may appear on your paycheck as a deduction, it does not come out of your pay. It is an additional amount, paid entirely by passengers" (Black Car Fund FAQ). If your pay for a trip is lower because of it, something is wrong.

What the surcharge is and what it pays for

The Black Car Fund is a not-for-profit workers' compensation insurer created by New York State law in 1999. "For the purposes of Workers' Compensation, The Black Car Fund is your employer," the Fund says. Every black car base, luxury limousine base and high-volume company (Uber, Lyft) must be a member, must bill and collect the surcharge on every trip it dispatches, and must send it to the Fund by the 15th of the following month (TLC rule 59B-12(b), chapter 59).

The surcharge is assessed on the total fare not including tips, bridge and tunnel tolls, congestion surcharges, central business district (Congestion Relief Zone) tolls or airport access fees. New York State also does not count it as part of the taxable receipt for sales tax (TSB-M-09(7)S).

How much it is

TLC's trip records have a separate bcf field: "Total amount collected in trip for Black Car Fund" (TLC data dictionary). The figures above are our totals from those records. The Fund's FAQ calls the rate "a small percentage" and does not state it, so we don't either.

2014–2017: when drivers paid it

The New York Attorney General found that from 2014 to 2017 Uber deducted sales taxes and Black Car Fund fees from drivers' payments when riders should have paid them. Lyft took an 11.4% "administrative charge" from 2015 to 2017, equal to the sales tax and Black Car Fund fees. Under the November 2, 2023 settlements, Uber paid $290 million and Lyft $38 million back to drivers, and both must now give accurate earnings statements and show drivers what the rider paid after each trip (NY Attorney General).

What to do if it's taken from your pay

1. Check the trip pay line. Compare your pay for the trip (without tips and tolls) with the TLC minimum for its miles and minutes. A Black Car Fund line shown beside it is fine; your trip pay going down because of it is not.
2. Compare with the rider-paid amount. The app must show what the rider paid. The surcharge should be inside that amount, on top of the fare.
3. Find the clause. Any deduction must be listed in your base agreement and in the company's statement of fees filed with TLC (rules 59B-18(f)(3), 59D-19(d)). See can a base charge fees not in my agreement?
4. Report it. Ask the company in the app and save the reply. Then contact TLC's Driver Protection Unit at (718) 391-5539 or driverprotection@tlc.nyc.gov.

Use what the surcharge pays for

You are covered for workers' comp on jobs dispatched by any member base, but not on street hails or on jobs from a non-member base such as a livery base. To use the extra benefits (dental, vision, disability and more), you must enroll in Drivers Benefits before you need them. See Black Car Fund driver benefits, how to file a workers' comp claim and what a black car is. Line-by-line help with your statement is in how to read an Uber or Lyft pay statement.