TODAY a case was filed on behalf of the City of New York in New York State Supreme Court against predatory delivery app Motoclick for egregiously violating the city's Delivery Worker Laws. Motoclick, which operates a restaurant-facing delivery service, blatantly ignored the Minimum Pay Rate and stole directly from workers' paychecks, with shocking tactics that include charging workers a $10 fee for canceled orders and deducting the entire cost of refunded orders from workers' pay - sometimes claiming that workers owed the company money. DCWP estimates that Motoclick and CEO Juan Pablo Salinas Salek owe workers millions in stolen pay and damages and seeks to shut the company down completely.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, DCWP Commissioner Sam Levine, and advocates from Worker's Justice Project and Los Deliveristas Unidos to announce the lawsuit.
Commissioner Levine also today launched a compliance blitz, sending notices to Instacart, DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber, and others warning them to adhere to new Delivery Worker Laws taking effect on January 26. This includes Local Laws 107 and 108, related to tipping protections; Local Law 113 related to delivery worker pay transparency; and Local Laws 123 and 124, related to expanding the minimum pay rate to more delivery workers, timely and weekly payment rights, and improved bathroom access for delivery workers. As a report DCWP released earlier this week revealed, DoorDash and Uber engineered design tricks in their interfaces to lower workers' tip earnings by $550 million.
These actions come as Commissioner Levine ramps up efforts to crack down on predatory delivery apps, reverse worker losses through aggressive enforcement of the Delivery Worker Laws, and hold companies and individuals accountable for ripping off the hardworking, majority immigrant deliveristas who keep New Yorkers fed.
"Deliveristas make millions of New Yorkers' day-to-day lives easier only for their own to be difficult. Today, however, marks the end of a chapter of thankless exploitation," said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. "Our Department of Consumer and Worker Protection is already cracking down on everything from baseless violations of the law to deceptive tricks that hurt our delivery workers - and showing what a government that puts working people first can accomplish every day."
"We know affordability is not just about the cost of goods - it's about the dignity of work. That's why we have to make sure our deliveristas have safety on the job, a minimum wage for their work, and tips that go directly to their pockets," said Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. "Today's lawsuit against Motoclick is not just an action against one company, it's a warning to every app-based company from this Administration. You cannot treat workers like they are expendable and get away with it. We will seek full back pay and damages. We will seek full accountability."
"Motoclick and its CEO tricked New Yorkers into working for their platform with false promises and then stole their tips and earnings - sometimes even driving workers into debt.," said DCWP Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine. "We are seeking to shutdown this company and other predatory apps should be on notice. If you scam your workers, we will hold you and your executives accountable."
"We are so proud to welcome Commissioner Levine to our worker center at the very start of his tenure and inspired by his decision to stand with the 80,000 app delivery workers who are essential to New York City's economy and critical partners in enforcing the laws that protect all workers. This moment marks a new era of co-enforcement in the app delivery industry: rooted in worker leadership, public accountability, and real consequences for reckless app companies. We are grateful to work in unity with Commissioner Levine and the entire Department of Consumer and Worker Protection team to make clear that workers and the city are watching - and that the law will be enforced," said Ligia Guallpa, Executive Director of Worker's Justice Project and Co-Founder of the Los Deliveristas Unidos campaign
