City of Seattle charges Postmates nearly $1M for underpaying more than 1,600 food delivery workers

(Postmates photo)

Postmate’s delivery company will pay nearly $ 1 million to fund arrears of wages and insufficient contributions to the City of Seattle’s mandatory paid sick leave program in an agreement with the Office of Labor Standards.

The settlement under the Regulated Paid Sickness and Safe Time for Gig Workers includes 1,646 workers and includes $ 949,815.49 in arrears of wages, interest and civil penalties for those workers, plus an additional $ 22,260.40 fine.

The city’s labor exchange began its investigation last fall after numerous workers – who had worked long hours during the delivery surge in the pandemic – complained that postmates did not pay the required sick leave, nor did these workers inform them of how much paid vacation was paid to them to disposal.

Seattle had opened its investigation into the grocery delivery service before it was bought by Uber in December 2020.

In a statement from the employment office, Shawn W. Gray, a Postmates driver, said the company’s couriers should not have been refused additional pay.

“For years couriers have given us many advantages that we need and that we should have received from the start. Thanks to the hard work of the OLS staff, we now have these advantages, ”he said.

An Uber spokesman said the company was happy to settle the matter.

“Although these issues arose before our Postmates purchase was completed, we appreciate the Office of Labor Standards working closely with us to resolve any outstanding issues,” said Zahid Arab, public affairs manager at Uber, in a statement.

“We have worked tirelessly to ensure workers on Postmates’ platform get their paid sickness and safe time, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with (Office of Labor Standards).”

Uber recently had to pay severance pay to the same city agency for similar reasons.

In June, the Office of Labor Standards reached a $ 3.4 million settlement with Uber to resolve arrears and unpaid sick leave claims. The money, the Labor Standards Bureau said, will cover unpaid claims from 15,000 local Uber drivers.

Both settlements are covered by the 2012 ordinance that requires Seattle employers to fund sick days for employees at the rate of one day for every 30 calendar days worked. Since its first approval, the Labor Standards Bureau has expanded the ranks of eligible workers to include gig workers and added the list of acceptable reasons for taking vacation.