The checks came about because Massachusetts passed a new law regulating ride-sharing companies, which required a background check run by the state government, in addition to the companies' own background checks. The state checks began in January, and the results were announced yesterday. Out of the 70,789 drivers who went through the state application process, 8,206 were rejected.
The discrepancy between the background checks by the companies and by the state came about because Massachusetts looked much further into the drivers' past than the companies did, or could.
"Under Massachusetts law, Lyft?s commercial background check provider, like all consumer reporting agencies, is legally prevented from looking back further than seven years into driver applicants? histories," Lyft said in a statement to the Globe. "The state does not face the same limitation, which likely explains why a small percentage of our drivers failed the state?s background check while passing ours."
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