DoorDash and Postmates forced to pay over $350,000 to delivery drivers

With Seattle City Council forcing eCommerce ordering and transportation platforms to give drivers at least $5 premium pay/hazard pay for each trip made during the pandemic, PostMates and DoorDash have been forced to pay up.

On September 17, the Seattle Office of Labor Standards confirmed that both services “negotiated an informal resolution” following voluntary internal audits.

DoorDash paid $111,435.35 to 2,998 workers, while PostMates paid $250,515.17 to 2,975 workers.

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The Gig Worker Premium Pay Ordinance was passed in June and called for companies to pay each delivery driver a $5 hazard pay bonus until the end of the city’s civil emergency or until March 3, 2023 — the third anniversary of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan declaring the coronavirus pandemic an emergency.

The ordinance cites that gig workers for food delivery network companies and transportation network companies during the coronavirus emergency “face magnified risks of catching or spreading disease because the nature of their work can involve close contact with the public, including members of the public who are not showing symptoms of COVID-19 but who can spread the disease.”

Payments by Instacart grocery delivery and UberEats have not yet been confirmed.