Food-Delivery Companies Sue New York City Over Minimum Pay Law

Target Tabloid – Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub argued that the city used poor data to calculate how much food delivery workers should earn and that the change would hurt consumers.

Three food-delivery giants are suing New York City to block minimum pay standards for gig workers, arguing that regulators used faulty data to calculate the new compensation rules.

Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub on Thursday each filed a request for a temporary restraining order in State Supreme Court in Manhattan to stop the wage changes from going into effect on July 12. Relay, a smaller, New York-based food delivery platform, did the same.

The new pay standard, which was announced last month, would require gig platforms to pay food delivery workers about $18 per hour and to increase that amount to $20 per hour by 2025. Delivery workers currently make around $11 an hour, according the city’s estimate.

But Uber and the other gig companies say they will be forced to pass on the cost of the higher wages to consumers by raising prices. They argue that the city’s modeling does not correctly calculate the degree to which these higher prices will harm local restaurants. And they say that the new system will work to deliverers’ disadvantage because the company, to control costs, will have to strictly monitor how much time they spend online on the apps but not actually doing deliveries.

“The rule must be paused before damaging the restaurants, consumers and couriers it claims to protect,” Josh Gold, an Uber spokesman, said in a statement.

In a prepared statement, Vilda Vera Mayuga, the commissioner of New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, defended the new wage standard.

“Delivery workers, like all workers, deserve fair pay for their labor, and we are disappointed that Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub and Relay disagree,” she said. “These workers brave thunderstorms, extreme heat events and risk their lives to deliver for New Yorkers — and we remain committed to delivering for them.”

The skirmish over delivery worker pay in New York is part of a long-running conflict between gig companies and labor activists around the country over the compensation and treatment of the workers. Gig deliverers are independent contractors, meaning they do not earn a minimum wage or health care benefits and are responsible for their own expenses. Uber and other gig companies say the workers value the flexibility of setting their own hours and being independent, but labor groups argue that they are being exploited and deserve better protections.

Delivery workers themselves have long complained that they are not fairly compensated for the arduous and occasionally dangerous work of ferrying passengers and food around cities for hours each day. In general, food deliverers tend to earn less money than workers who drive people.

Sumber: https://www.nytimes.com/