Imagine not being able to use the bathroom at your place of work. For many New York City food delivery drivers, that has been the reality because restaurants aren’t required to provide them with bathroom access. At least not until now.
Last month, Mayor Eric Adams and Peter A. Hatch, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) commissioner, announced a set of provisions aimed at protecting the rights of app-based delivery workers. The provisions, which took immediate effect, include a rule requiring restaurants to make their toilet facilities available to any delivery worker picking up a food or beverage order.
But the announcement went further. Starting April 22, third-party food delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub will be required to pay drivers at least once a week, provide routing details before each delivery and allow drivers to limit the distance they travel from restaurants during trips. Additionally, beginning in 2023, the apps will have to pay drivers a minimum rate that will be set by the city.
This legislation marks and enormous victory for delivery drivers. “Delivery workers risked their lives and served as a lifeline to our city during the pandemic despite them being denied basic worker protections,” Adams said in “With this legislation, we are taking a transformative step in protecting these essential workers, and also supporting our city’s restaurants, to ensure a fair and equitable recovery for all New Yorkers.”
Besides bathroom access, the city adopted three more provisions that went into effect. One requires apps to tell drivers how much customers tip for each delivery, which wasn’t the case until Monday despite years of accusations that companies like DoorDash pocketed tips. DoorDash settled a lawsuit for $2.5 million on that exact issue in 2020.
Another provision mandates that they inform drivers how much they earned the previous day in tips and total pay, and the third requires the apps to obtain a license with the DCWP.
The key issue is that as independent contractors, food delivery drivers sacrifice the benefits of full employment for increased flexibility. In return should they have to sacrifice all of those benefits, and the fact that it’s taken half a decade and a number of city mandates for third-party delivery apps to grant simple provisions like bathroom access .
“This is a great step forward by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to better protect restaurants and delivery workers as this city works to recover,” said Council Member Francisco Moya. “Enforcing these new labor standards ensures there is more transparency, supports better working conditions and gives the businesses an opportunity to increase their revenue without fear of being charged exorbitant fees. I am proud to have sponsored and supported this legislation in the City Council.”
Moya has been at the forefront of the fight for expanded protections for delivery workers since last year, when he was instrumental in passing permanent commission caps that limited how much third-party apps could charge their restaurant partners. Several of them, including Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub, are jointly suing the city in an attempt to block those rules.
The City Council also approved a provision in September that would establish a minimum payment per trip for delivery drivers. According to the city, the DCWP is conducting a minimum wage study to determine the rate, which Adams and the organization announced last month Sunday will take effect in 2023.
On the heels of the legislation, food delivery workers in New York City, groups representing about 100,000 such app employees have announced the formation of a new coalition, Justice for App Workers, that would push for new measures they say would “achieve dignity” for drivers and the city’s fleet of delivery workers.
The coalition said it is focused on advocating for living wages, better safety, quality health care, reliable bathroom access, the right to form a union, and protections against being unfairly blocked from receiving work.
