New York City announced that DoorDash will pay $131.5 million to resolve an enforcement action over delivery worker pay. The settlement follows an investigation by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, which acted on reports of late or missing payments for completed deliveries. More than 260,000 workers will receive over $115 million, with compensation calculated at roughly 200 percent of the amount they were underpaid.
DoorDash attributed some irregularities to technical issues, such as deliveries that crossed city boundaries or were only partially fulfilled, and to a disagreement over how to calculate pay for time spent online between deliveries. The company said it believed its approach was fair and legal but agreed to follow the city's guidance rather than fight in court. The settlement also includes civil penalties and over $83 million tied to the on-call time calculation dispute.
As part of the agreement, DoorDash will implement a compliance monitoring program, share monthly data with the city for three years, and update its app and internal controls. Separately, the Workers' Algorithm Observatory and the Workers' Justice Project committed to building software that lets workers capture the pay and delivery information DoorDash shows them. DoorDash, which has generally opposed city and state regulation of delivery platforms, acknowledged in its announcement that it "screwed up."