Food delivery services sue NYC over minimum pay rates for app-based workers

NEW YORK (AP) — Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub sued New York City on Thursday to block its new minimum pay rules for food delivery workers.

The recently announced rules, touted as a national first, could nearly triple average earnings for app-based delivery workers in the coming years. An increased pay rate of $17.96 an hour is set to take effect July 12.

New York’s more than 60,000 delivery workers currently make an average of $7.09 an hour, according to the city.

The food delivery services are seeking a temporary restraining order in state Supreme Court in Manhattan to stop the changes from going into effect on July 12. The companies claim the changes would result in higher costs for consumers.

“The city’s entire rule depends on the false assumption that restaurants make no money on deliveries - it must be paused before damaging restaurants, consumers and the couriers it purports to protect,” Uber spokesperson Josh Gold said in a prepared statement.

DoorDash and Grubhub jointly filed a lawsuit. Uber filed its own lawsuit, as did New York-based Relay Delivery.

An email seeking comment was sent to city officials.

In a prepared statement sent to The New York Times, Vilda Vera Mayuga, the commissioner of New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, said delivery workers “deserve fair pay for their labor.”

“These workers brave thunderstorms, extreme heat events and risk their lives to deliver for New Yorkers — and we remain committed to delivering for them,” she said.

Under the new rule, food delivery services will have some flexibility in how they pay new workers. Apps can choose if they want to pay delivery workers per trip, per hour worked or another policy created by the company — as long as earnings meet the minimum pay rate, the city has said.