NEW YORK — The mobile apps DoorDash, Uber Eats and GrubHub, which dominate the food delivery industry, have sued New York City in an attempt to stop the implementation of the law, which takes effect on November 12. July and sets the minimum wage for food delivery drivers at $17.96 an hour.
The norm, which will affect some 60,000 people in the city, known as “deliveristas” contemplates a salary increase up to $19.96 an hour as of April 1, 2025 and was established by the Mayor’s Office.
In a joint statement, DoorDash, which sued along with GrubHub, justifies the lawsuit by noting that the city announced, on June 11, “an extreme income standard” for food delivery workers.
That translated into “bad policy that was the result of an even worse process: it was carried out arbitrarily, relied on dubious methodology, and failed to comply with the law passed by the Council (local legislature), however misguided that it was initially”.
It also indicates that they are suing “to send a clear and unequivocal message that bad policies cannot go unnoticed” and assure that they will not sit idly by and that “these harmful impacts go unchecked for the communities we serve.”
The apps view drivers as independent contractors and not employees, so they don’t receive minimum wage, expense reimbursement, overtime or other benefits like health insurance, and are paid an average of $7.09 per hour, excluding tips, which led this group, a large number of them Latin Americans, to fight to improve their working conditions.
After the City Council approved a series of laws to regulate the industry and protect them, there was a public hearing, -ordered by the Council- convened by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to establish the minimum wage, which ” deliveristas” were asking outside of $23.82 an hour.
Although the approval is below that figure, they also celebrated that their working conditions improved.
App companies say the new law will force them to raise consumer fees and limit the number of people who work for apps.
“These workers are facing electrical storms, extreme heat events and risking their lives to deliver for New Yorkers, and we remain committed to delivering for them,” said the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection charged with implementing the new law. and monitor that it is complied with when reacting to the demand.
DoorDash and GrubHub jointly filed the suit in the city’s Supreme Court while Eats and Relay each filed separately, according to the Wall Street Journal.
