New York City has announced a historic enforcement action against DoorDash for systemic violations of the city's Delivery Worker Laws, delivering more than $115 million directly to more than 260,000 workers.
The settlement, announced by Mayor Mamdani, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Levine, and Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, also includes more than $16 million in civil penalties and costs. It will provide relief to workers who were underpaid or not paid by DoorDash.
According to the press release, this is the largest worker settlement in NYC history and the largest settlement involving food delivery workers in the United States. Eligible workers will begin receiving payments this fall.
Commissioner Levine also announced the creation of an internal Research and Analytics Division (RAD), described as one of the first municipal offices of its kind in the nation. RAD modernizes and dramatically increases DCWP's data science and analytics capacity, allowing the agency to expedite investigations into consumer and worker violations and secure relief for New Yorkers.
The division was at the forefront of DCWP's recent investigation into DoorDash and is developing software that will allow workers to share their DoorDash trip and earnings data directly with the agency, allowing DCWP to catch worker violations as they happen. DCWP said it is currently hiring skilled data scientists to fill out the RAD team.
Separately, DCWP staff and local officials, including Council Member Shanel Thomas-Henry, have been visiting small businesses across the five boroughs this summer through Business Education Days to share resources and prepare owners for inspections. Ahead of Labor Day, DCWP also held a Workers' Rights Day of Action, distributing over 10,000 copies of NYC's Workers' Bill of Rights and informing more than 30,000 New Yorkers of their worker rights this summer.