Uber’s Arbitration Addiction Could Be Death by 60,000 Cuts

For Uber Technologies Inc., using legal arbitration to deal with driver compensation complaints -- over anything from pay to overtime to mileage reimbursement -- seemed like the smart play: it would preclude costly class-action litigation, it was private, and few drivers would go to the trouble.

That may have been a miscalculation.

As the ride-hailing giant prepares to go public this week, in a listing that could value Uber at almost $84 billion, the number of U.S. drivers who have filed arbitration demands against Uber has swelled to more than 60,000, according to the company’s prospectus. The figure surprised legal ...