Judge blocks new NYC delivery worker minimum wage increase until hearing is held

As Salon reported last week, a change in the minimum hourly wage for delivery drivers was set to go into effect in New York City was being hotly contested by DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber Eats and Relay, a locally-based delivery app. Now, as CNN reports, a judge has blocked this law from going into effect on the intended date of July 12 “until there is a hearing for a lawsuit filed by DoorDash and Grubhub against the city.”

As previously reported, the change would increase the hourly pay rate to nearly $18 in advance of  another planned minimum wage increase to around $20 in 2025. CNN states that “food delivery volumes still remain higher than pre-Covid levels.” Judge Nicholas Moyne scheduled oral arguments to take place on July 31, essentially restricting the new law form going into effect until at least that date, as noted by CNN. The current minimum wage for NYC’s delivery drivers is just over $7 per hour.

In a statement provided to CNN, a DoorDash spoken person said: “Today’s decision is an early and promising victory for consumers, local businesses, and delivery workers across New York City, protecting them from the harmful and lasting impacts of an extreme earnings standard that resulted from a fundamentally broken process. We hope that this puts us on the path towards the city establishing a more reasonable earnings standard that reflects how these platforms are used by New Yorkers.”

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As William Skipworth writes in Forbes, “New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced in June the law would take effect July 12, almost two years after the City Council passed a slate of legislation aimed at improving conditions for delivery drivers in the city.”

Forbes also reports that this is not the first time the city has been sued by delivery companies. Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub sued in 2021 over commissions and DoorDash sued separately over a different rule that sought to increase the amount of data shared between the company and NYC restaurants. 

Detractors of the pay increase measure suggest that it could result in price hikes for consumers, while potentially hindering restaurants’ income. 

Since Moyne’s ruling, Vilda Vera Mayuga — the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection — said she was “extremely disappointed” in the decision, as noted by Fortune.

“These apps currently pay workers far below the minimum wage, and this pay rate would help lift thousands of working New Yorkers and their families out of poverty,” she said. “We look forward to a quick decision so that the dignified pay rate that workers deserve to earn is not delayed any more than necessary.”‘