Greater than something, Mohammad Dawood Mommand desires his brother, Ahmad Yusufi, to be remembered most as a beneficiant, hard-working man. Yusufi had fled Afghanistan, the place he had served as an interpreter for the U.S. army for 9 years, in 2017 together with his household and had hustled to maintain his family members.
“He wasn’t answerable for simply his household … he helped the poor … in my nation,” Mommand mentioned. “He empathized. He simply tried to work arduous and assist individuals in his household and his neighborhood.”
Ahmad Yusufi, 31, was shot and killed final month in San Francisco whereas driving for Uber and Lyft. And Uber, his brother says, has completed little in the way in which of offering monetary and emotional assist for the household.
At about 5 a.m. on Nov. 28, in keeping with a San Francisco police information launch offered to SFGATE, San Francisco police responded to a capturing on Potrero Avenue and Cesar Chavez Boulevard. When officers arrived to the scene, they discovered “a 31-year-old male sufferer affected by a gunshot wound.” He was transported to a close-by hospital for “life-threatening accidents” and was pronounced lifeless on the hospital.
Mommand informed SFGATE that it was seemingly an tried theft; an unknown particular person allegedly broke into Yusufi’s automotive to attempt to get his pockets and cellphone.
An Uber spokesperson informed SFGATE and different information retailers, together with Sacramento’s KXKV, that Yusufi was not driving for the service — he was “offline” — on the time of his loss of life. The spokesperson did verify that he had pushed in San Francisco the night time earlier than.
“We’re saddened by this mindless act of violence that took Mr. Yusufi’s life,” a spokesperson informed SFGATE in an announcement Wednesday. “Our hearts exit to his household throughout this tough time.”
Uber didn’t present additional touch upon what, if any, assets it will present for Yusufi’s household.
The corporate’s quick response, Mommand mentioned, has been inadequate. Yusufi was the first breadwinner for his household — his spouse and three kids, a 10-year-old, a 3-year-old and a 4-month-old. By failing to answer his loss of life privately, he says, the corporate has uncared for to take care of considered one of their extra weak staff, somebody who has relied on gig providers to make a life for his household right here in the USA.
A photograph of Mohammad Dawood Mommand and Ahmad Yusufi.
Courtesy of Mohammad Dawood Mommand“Because it’s occurred, nobody has helped us,” he says, noting that his solely plan for recourse has been reaching out to information stations in hopes of drawing consideration to his brother’s loss of life.
“We do not, we do not have anybody to again us up,” he mentioned. “… What they need to say, they are saying.”
Even when he was technically not driving for Uber on the time of his loss of life, Yusufi was within the metropolis for work. Mommand, who additionally drives for Uber and Lyft, says that his brother drove into San Francisco each week, as much as 5 days every week, to drive for Uber, and was taking a break in between intensive shifts driving when his killing passed off.
It is a widespread prevalence, Mommand says, amongst Uber and Lyft drivers round Northern California, particularly for refugees and immigrants who’ve not too long ago moved to the States.
“From Sacramento … they go each weekend [to San Francisco], they keep there and sleep of their vehicles,” he mentioned. “If somebody has labored with Lyft or Uber all day, perhaps they’ll make $250 or 300, no more.”
And since a big chunk of that earnings will get put towards fuel, automotive repairs, firm charges and insurance coverage, many drivers are pressured to sleep of their vehicles in an effort to avoid wasting cash for his or her households. A 2019 estimate from CNBC discovered that one full-time driver in New York Metropolis spent practically $20,000 in a 12 months simply on insurance coverage, fuel and different charges to remain employed with a service like Uber or Lyft.
“If we get an house or [hotel] room to sleep in,” he mentioned, “we can’t save nothing for my household to take pleasure in.”
A photograph of Ahmad Yusufi’s household.
Courtesy of Mohammad Dawood MommandProposition 22, which was dominated unconstitutional in August however nonetheless stays in impact, classifies Yusufi as a contractor, not an worker. The laws replaces a state-funded employee’s compensation program with “an insurance coverage program that offers the motive force some compensation for medical bills and misplaced earnings ensuing from accidents suffered whereas the app-based driver is on-line with the app,” mentioned Catherine Fisk, a professor of employment and labor legislation at UC Berkeley Regulation who filed a quick in opposition to the proposition in court docket.
(In reality, the unconstitutionality of the laws comes on account of Proposition 22’s failure to offer “a complete employee’s compensation program,” Fisk mentioned.)
That final half is vital: The insurance coverage program would solely pay the household if Yusufi was on-line, which Uber alleged he was not.
But when, as Mommand argues, the shortage of fine, secure wages and different advantages put his brother within the precarious place that led to his loss of life, then the household should have the prospect to file a tort declare in opposition to Uber.
This difficulty of overworked, underpaid drivers disproportionately impacts among the most weak within the Bay Space and in the USA — refugees and immigrants who first come to the USA with restricted job prospects, an immense language barrier and the attract of a high-paying earnings supply.
“Most refugees,” he mentioned, “who come from different nations, they begin to work Lyft, Uber as a result of they don’t know every other good enterprise.”
Mommand’s last-ditch effort to get recognition from Uber is an open letter, shared Thursday and addressed to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, chief authorized officer Tony West and senior vp of selling and PR Jill Hazelbaker, through which he lays out his calls for: entry to his slain brother’s Uber account in an effort to get extra info within the moments main as much as his loss of life, $4 million to assist assist the household and higher pay for all Uber drivers.
The letter closes with a want. “We belief that you’ll do the precise factor,” his letter reads.
However within the meantime, Mommand is urging extra individuals — particularly different refugees and people in weak positions — to not drive for Uber or Lyft.
“What occurred to me and my brother right now,” he mentioned, “tomorrow it might occur for every other driver. They don’t do nothing for us, Lyft and Uber.”
Mommand has arrange a GoFundMe for Yusufi’s household; it has raised $50,000 up to now.
