Drivers for KC rideshare service sue, claiming they are underpaid and exploited
Drivers for Kansas City’s taxpayer-subsidized microtransit service IRIS say they were promised they could make $60,000 to $200,000 a year ferrying people around town in cars provided by the same company that owns zTrip.
They would operate as independent business men and women, with the help of zTrip, which has a contract with the city to operate IRIS, a ride-hailing service similar to Uber and Lyft. The company would connect them with riders and cover most of the operating costs. All they had to do was drive for their paycheck.
But two drivers for IRIS (named after the official city flower) say they were duped. They allege in a new lawsuit that the company doing business as zTrip does not treat them as independent contractors, but more like employees – only without any of the benefits or protections that comes with employment status.
The two men are seeking to represent all IRIS drivers in the lawsuit they filed Wednesday in federal court seeking back pay and an end to fees that leave them “trapped in debt,” according to the Missouri Workers Center.
“Plaintiffs had no meaningful opportunity to negotiate compensation, deductions, disciplinary standards, or termination provisions; every economic and operational aspect of the relationship was dictated solely by zTrip,” Darian Hall and Abubakar Mohamed allege in their suit.
Kansas City has a contract with zTrip, which provides IRIS service and claims to be the largest taxi service provider in North America.
IRIS began in 2023 at the behest of the Kansas City Council and was created to serve people in parts of the city where fixed-route bus service is limited. Its flat fares are typically lower than those charged by Uber and Lyft, which have dynamic pricing, meaning rates are higher at times when demand is greatest.
The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority manages the contract for the city. Neither are defendants in the lawsuit, whose plaintiffs are seeking class-action status.
The sole defendant is WHC KCT, LLC, doing business as zTrip.
IRIS is modeled after for-profit ride hailing services, but has limits on where riders are picked up or dropped off. Often those sites are RideKC bus stops within a defined service area on the Missouri side of the metro area..
In addition to Kansas City, IRIS also services Gladstone, Riverside, Liberty and Raytown, the KCATA website says.
Like Lyft and Uber drivers, IRIS drivers get their ride assignments through a company app, and their movements are monitored. All must conform to rules governing how to behave and treat customers.
A litany of fees
But where Lyft and Uber drivers are free to set their own hours and can choose to decline ride requests, IRIS sets drivers’ schedules and requires them to accept ride assignments or be disciplined, the lawsuit says. While their counterparts at the for-profit operations drive their own vehicles, the drivers at IRIS typically use vehicles supplied by zTrip.
According to the lawsuit, their take-home pay is often less than they were promised because of all the fees deducted from their checks.
The drivers pay $25 a week to insure the vehicles that they do not own. They buy the gas to run them. They pay a monthly fee to have their IRIS car washed at a specified car wash. They pay weekly fees for use of the ride booking system and a 5% voucher processing fee.
And they get no overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week.
“Defendant has reaped the benefits of a traditional employment relationship from Plaintiffs and similarly situated drivers without granting these drivers the benefits of employment status, including the right to overtime pay,” the lawsuit says.
“Plaintiffs, individually and on behalf of similarly situated drivers, now bring this collective and class action to recover the pay they are due and to recover the exorbitant, non-negotiable fees that Defendant wrongfully excluded from their paychecks.”
IRIS workers have been trying to form a union so they can have the right to bargain for better working conditions and pay since last fall. The lawsuit raises many of the issues behind the union drive. Uber and Lyft drivers have also been trying to union in several other states.
Drivers and their supporters plan to rally Thursday morning at 10:30 outside the federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for unpaid wages and what the lawsuit claims are “unjust fees.”
Bill George is CEO of zTrip and its parent company. In discussions with a Star reporter last fall, he said the company’s employment practices were fair and adhered to industry standards.
George said that even after the company’s fees are deducted, IRIS drivers make a decent wage.
“Independent contractor drivers, on average, net over $29 an hour,” he said, displaying a graphic on his phone purportedly showing an hourly net wage of $29.05 for a driver with the initials M.A.
That driver told The Star that after fees his hourly pay came out to about $14-15 an hour.
The Star’s Natalie Wallington contributed reporting.
This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
