Although Marjorie Shelby is no longer a ride-share driver, she still receives phone calls about ticket debt she owes from dropping off and picking up Chicago passengers for four years.

“I just got another call from Uber most recently last week, but I told her that I'm not paying,” she said. “They sent me them on and off that I have to pay this before I can drive with Uber. They had sent that to me for two years, but they just deactivated me this year.”

Shelby has been out of an income ever since, leaving her with no other resource than Community Concerns, a social services agency.

“They help with my rent,” she said. “They paid eight months of that.”

Overall, the married 65-year-old has strong feelings about Uber and the City of Chicago, which is the only major U.S. city that deactivates gig workers as punishment for their unpaid ticket debts.

“They tell me I owe this money,” Shelby told Flexible Work News. “They get nasty with it and I don’t like that. I told her that I’m not paying it. I'm sorry. She said they would come after me anyway.”

In 2019 alone, some 15,500 Lyft and Uber drivers were suspended by the city policy, according to NPR.

“I put in some hours and to have them just kick me off like that,” she said. “They did it because of Chicago.”

Shelby’s tickets are among the more than 3 million automated traffic camera violations issued each year by the City of Chicago, according to ProPublica Illinois.

The cost of a citation ranges from $25 for broken headlights to $250 for drivers who park their cars in disability parking spaces without the proper credentials.

“I was a loyal driver for four years and even through COVID but that doesn't mean nothing to nobody unless they are getting a cut from it,” she said. “That's how I feel.”

ProPublica's 2007 data analysis determined that the city’s low-income, mostly black neighborhoods are disproportionately impacted with the most accumulated ticket debt per adult found in eight of the 10 majority-black Illinois zip codes.

Although Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is African American, Shelby doesn’t think that race makes a difference.

“I would tell her that we are trying to make a living by driving people who need rides because a lot of people in Chicago don't have cars so how can you kick somebody off?” she said. “As long as they can fatten their pockets ... that's what some of the politicians do is get in there so they can fatten their pockets. What a shame.”

The city code that’s responsible for the situation that Shelby finds herself in is Section 54-391 of the Cook County Code of Ordinances, which empowers the City of Chicago to revoke her business license for not paying or being unable to pay the issued tickets regardless of the amount Shelby owes.

Prior to losing the right to drive, Shelby was earning an estimated $200 a day, six days a week driving in Chicago proper where black neighborhoods make up 40% of all debt, and 22% of all the tickets issued in the city in the past 10 years, according to ProPublica, which shows just how debt acts as an obstacle for the poor.

When a Cook County department or agency has decided to deny renewal, suspend or revoke a general business license, a notice and copy are delivered to the applicant as well as the Department of Revenue. The notice is considered “Prima Facie,” because it’s legally sufficient to deny issuance, deny renewal or suspend a business license. However, a license can only be suspended, denied or revoked after a License Administration Hearing is held where the applicant is given seven days' notice. The director of revenue may also grant one continuance after a “show of good cause.”

The Cook County Code further allows a business to be immediately closed if its license is denied, suspended, or revoked. Although an applicant may appeal the decision of the License Administration Hearing, filing an appeal will not stop the business from closing down or the license suspension. If the appeal is denied, the Department of Administrative Hearings administers a notice to the appropriate party saying the decision is upheld. If the appeal is successful, the department will notify the appropriate party and the business license will be reinstated. The Department of Revenue can file an appeal against the Department of Administrative Hearing’s rule with the Circuit Court.

As a result, drivers like Shelby have two options if their license is suspended due to unpaid parking ticket debt.

The City of Chicago website states that drivers can pay all the parking ticket violations and fines in full with checks payable to the City of Chicago Department of Finance or they may choose to challenge the license suspension by filing an appeal with the secretary of state within 21 days of notice of suspension.

“I would appeal because I have been off of work a long time and I would go back and do some driving but not full time like I was before,” Shelby said. “It would be part time.”

Editor’s Note: This story is part of an ongoing series covering the impact of government policy on those earning money from the gig economy.