The Seattle Times — Lauren Rosenblatt | Seattle Times Amazon Reporter
Seattle delivery drivers have accused Uber Eats of shorting them on pay, violating the city’s minimum wage requirement for gig workers.
Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards opened an investigation into Uber Eats, a subsidiary of rideshare company Uber, last week following complaints from workers that they were not receiving the correct pay for certain deliveries in Seattle, according to a spokesperson for the city agency.
The office is investigating whether Uber Eats has complied with Seattle’s app-based worker minimum payment ordinance, which sets a minimum wage for gig workers.
Uber Eats sent a notice to drivers, who pick up meals from restaurants and drop them at customers’ doorsteps, informing them of the investigation Tuesday, according to a copy of the letter shared with The Seattle Times. The company did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
The ordinance, passed in 2022, went into effect this January. It sets a minimum wage for gig workers, who are not traditionally included in state and federal labor laws like a minimum wage requirement because they are often considered independent contractors.
Under the Seattle rule, gig workers are guaranteed a pay rate of $0.44 per minute and $0.74 per mile, or a minimum of $5 per offer. The ordinance also requires companies to disclose payment records and guarantees workers other protections, like preventing companies from penalizing drivers for limiting their availability or refusing orders.
Some business groups have pushed back on the ordinance, arguing it is too costly to implement and has led to higher prices for consumers. Grocery delivery service Instacart said in a blog post this year that customers would “see new fees as a result of the significant increase in operating costs.”
Uber Eats said in a blog post in February that similar ordinances in the past led to a decrease in demand and, consequently, lower earnings for drivers.
Michael Wolfe, executive director of the Seattle-based nonprofit Drive Forward, agreed that now, “there are so many fewer orders because the prices went through the roof.”
Wolfe and others lobbied against the ordinance before it went into effect and proposed changes to the rule earlier this year that would have lowered the minimum wage.
But that proposal did not make it through Seattle’s City Council, as members tried to balance the concerns of businesses with those of workers who said the pay rate was needed to keep up with the high cost of living in the region.
“This is an industry famous for its race to the bottom,” said Hannah Sabio-Howell, communications director for the nonprofit advocacy group Working Washington. These corporations historically “have just gotten away with underpaying its workforce,” she said.
Since the ordinance went into effect, Sabio-Howell said, gig workers no longer have to work 60-80 hours each week or hold down two jobs to make ends meet.
On the company side, Wolfe said it’s been difficult for platforms like Uber Eats to get their systems up to date to comply with the regulation.
“It’s not that they won’t, or can’t, or aren’t trying to, it’s that these are complicated algorithms … and it takes time for them to rewrite them, test them, put them into the field and debug them again,” Wolfe said.
Uber Eats and its rideshare counterpart Uber have been the subject of similar investigations before. In 2021, Uber agreed to a $3.4 million settlement with the city’s Office of Labor Standards for failing to provide more than 15,700 workers with accurate information about paid time off.
Uber Eats similarly agreed to a settlement over violations of the city’s paid sick and safe time ordinance this spring, after allegations that it did not give some workers correct information about how much paid time off they had accrued. In that case, Uber paid roughly $30,460 split among the 49 affected workers.
DoorDash and Instacart, both considered Uber Eats’ competitors in the food delivery space, have also settled violations of the city’s gig worker ordinances with the Office of Labor Standards.
The office is also investigating Amazon Logistics for its Flex program, which relies on gig workers to make deliveries from its vast network of warehouses to customers, for violations of the same rules. Amazon defended its practices in a note to drivers informing them of the investigation, writing “We remain confident we are in compliance with all laws and regulations.”
Under the minimum wage ordinance, the pay rate is set to increase in January to adjust for inflation and adjusted mileage rates.
DoorDash and Instacart, both considered Uber Eats’ competitors in the food delivery space, have also settled violations of the city’s gig worker ordinances with the Office of Labor Standards.
The office is also investigating Amazon Logistics for its Flex program, which relies on gig workers to make deliveries from its vast network of warehouses to customers, for violations of the same rules. Amazon defended its practices in a note to drivers informing them of the investigation, writing “We remain confident we are in compliance with all laws and regulations.”
Under the minimum wage ordinance, the pay rate is set to increase in January to adjust for inflation and adjusted mileage rates.
Read the full article at seattletimes.com.