
DoorDash to pay $131.5m after underpaying New York workers
Company to award backpay to 264,000 workers as mayor Zohran Mamdani condemns use of âÂÂgreedy algorithmsâÂÂ
DoorDash said it would pay $131.5m â to settle a âÂÂNew York City government investigation that found the food delivery company underpaid or waited too long to pay workers.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the settlement the cityâÂÂs largest â labor enforcement action. It advances the cityâÂÂs longstanding effort to hold food delivery companies to a 2023 law intended to improve pay for delivery workers.
The accord also came nearly â eight months after the cityâÂÂs department of consumer and worker protection accused DoorDash and rival Uber Eats of engineering âÂÂdesign tricksâ âÂÂto deprive workers of more than $550m in tips.
DoorDash âÂÂwill provide nearly $115m of âÂÂrelief to about 264,000 workers, whom it calls Dashers, with a median payout of about $48. It accepted a $16.7m âÂÂcivil fine.
âÂÂSimply put, we screwed up,â San Francisco-based DoorDash said in a statement. âÂÂOur mistakes meant some Dashers were underpaid or paid late. While these mistakes werenâÂÂt intentional, that doesnâÂÂt make them OK.âÂÂ
Shares of DoorDash rose 0.2% in afternoon trading.
The payout includes $83m to resolve a dispute over how to calculate pay for workers who were logged into the companyâÂÂs app but not actually making deliveries. Another $12.3m addresses payments that were âÂÂmissed or arrived days or weeks late.
DoorDash also agreed to send detailed pay data to the city every month for three years.
At a press conference, Mamdani called the âÂÂsettlement âÂÂpart of a larger commitment to hold delivery companies accountableâÂÂ.
He said DoorDash, through its use of âÂÂgreedy algorithmsâÂÂ, failed to comply with the 2023 city law intended to improve pay for delivery workers.
âÂÂFor years, DoorDash failed to count every hour worked by delivery workers,â Mamdani said. âÂÂThis was not a rounding error or an accidental mistake.âÂÂ
City officials declined to address whether â Uber Eats and the delivery app Grubhub are complying with the 2023 law.
Uber declined âÂÂto comment. Grubhub did not immediately respond âÂÂto requests for comment.
DoorDash said many âÂÂerrors resulted from deliveries that crossed city boundaries, had multiple pickup or drop-off locations, or were âÂÂonly partially fulfilled or âÂÂcanceled.
It said other âÂÂerrors resulted from technical âÂÂbugs, or having incomplete banking information for workers. The company said it has fixed technical issues that caused the mistakes.
DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub have had multiple legal battles with New York City, including challenges to its tipping laws and whether they must share customersâ data with restaurants.
