When Jahaira Perez was informed by Uber that she could no longer drive until she paid off more than $3,000 in traffic violations, she immediately applied for a repayment program offered by the City of Chicago.

“They're supposed to clear up some of the tickets, I guess the red light tickets, and then they'll tell you how much of the remaining balance you have to pay once you get approved,” she said. “I’ve got to wait for them to tell me how much and basically take it or leave it.”

Perez is among the ride-share app drivers who live in or around the city of Chicago, which is the only major U.S. city that deactivates gig workers as punishment for their unpaid ticket debts.

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

"It’s pretty pricey to get on a payment arrangement and be able to keep up with it every month,” Perez told Flexible Work News. “I don’t really have the funds for it and then they kick you off if you don't pay the payment.”

The married mother of a small child hasn’t driven since Sept. 1 and she’s still waiting to hear back from the repayment program.

“Uber notified me that if I didn't get into some type of payment plan or something with the city, that they were going to deactivate my account because it's a law by the city,” she said.

The city code that’s responsible for the situation that Perez 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 Perez owes.

“The City of Chicago puts a hold or something on your ride-share program if you owe tickets so you can't drive, you can't basically make any money, and even if you try to tell them that you need the Uber in order to pay the tickets, it doesn’t matter,” she said.

Perez lives in Chicago 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 demonstrates exactly how debt acts as an obstacle for the poor.

“I haven't been able to do anything, so I've just kind of been digging into my savings,” she said.

In addition to drivers, Chicago's ticketing policy applies to anyone who owns a business license, including vendors who own food trucks, beauty salons, restaurants and other small businesses. But ProPublica Illinois determined that more than 3 million tickets are issued each year in Chicago alone, for a wide range of parking, vehicle compliance and automated traffic camera violations with the average ticket cost ranging from $25 for broken headlights to $250 tickets for parking in a disabled zone.

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 a seven-day notice. The director of revenue may also grant one continuance after a “show of good cause.”

“You’re damned if you do and damned if you don't,” Perez said about the Code.

The 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.

Prior to losing the right to drive, Perez was earning about $700 a week. Now, she depends on her husband financially.

“The policy seems to serve them so they can get their money, but it kind of sucks because then you can't really make money to pay your own bill," Perez said.

Chicago drivers like Perez 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 parking ticket violations and fines in full by making 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.

“In order for us to pay them, we need to make money and if we can't make money doing what we normally do, which in my case is Uber, then how else are we supposed to pay them?” Perez said. “I would have to change my whole life around, get a full time, pay for daycare and all of the above.”

Finally, when challenging the Department of Administrative Hearing’s decision, the appeal must be in writing and will only be accepted if “you were not the owner or lessee of the vehicle or vehicles which received 10 or more parking or compliance violation notices or five or more automated red light violations on the date or dates such notices were issued, you have already paid the fine and penalty for the 10 or more violations or five or more automated red light violations indicated on the report, or you did not receive notice of the impending suspension of your driver’s license.”

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.