A Bird scooter mechanic who was fired after raising concerns about the safety of Bird scooters has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Bird Rides, Inc., seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
The former mechanic for Bird, Matt Fisher, was first hired by Bird as a charger and mechanic, then promoted to a field operations associate, with the responsibility of inspecting Bird scooters, running technical and mechanical tests on them.
According to the lawsuit, Bird issued a memo on the company’s internal Slack.com messaging service which stated that mechanics should consider missing screws and loose handlebars as “not damaged.”
Fisher responded through the Slack.com messaging service: “It’s hard to watch this neglect…Putting people’s lives in danger is a crime..I’m not going to ignore the damages. I’m not going to put people’s lives at risk.”
According to the lawsuit, management chastised Fisher for complaining about the scooters on Slack.com, and told him: “other people are not supposed to know about this.” The lawsuit also states that Fisher saw broken-down scooters strewn across the sidewalk, obstructing pedestrian traffic.
After he had raised safety concerns, he was fired.
If you have been injured by an electric scooter, contact McGee, Lerer & Associates for a free consultation. Whether you were a rider who was injured when the scooter malfunctioned, or a pedestrian injured when a rider slammed into you or you tripped, you have a right to be compensated.