Delivery company Postmates will pay nearly $1 million to fund back wages and inadequate contributions to the City of Seattle’s mandated paid sick leave program in a settlement reached with the Office of Labor Standards.
The settlement, under the Paid Sick and Safe Time for Gig Workers Ordinance, covers 1,646 workers and includes $949,815.49 in back wages, interest, and civil penalties for those workers, along with an additional $22,260.40 fine.
The city’s labor standards office began its investigation last fall after numerous workers — who had been working long hours during the pandemic delivery surge — complained that Postmates wasn’t paying the required sick leave nor notifying those same workers about how much paid-leave money was available to them.
Seattle had opened its investigation into the food delivery service before it was purchased by Uber in December 2020.
In a statement issued by the labor standards office, Shawn W. Gray, a Postmates driver, said the company’s couriers should not have been denied the additional pay.
“For years us couriers were missing out on many benefits that we need and that we should have received from the start. Now, thanks to the hard work of people who care at OLS, we have these benefits,” he said.
An Uber spokesman said the company was happy to put the matter to rest.
“While these issues arose before our purchase of Postmates was finalized, we appreciate the Office of Labor Standards’ close coordination with us to correct any outstanding issues,” said Zahid Arab, public affairs manager for Uber, said in a statement.
“We’ve worked tirelessly to ensure that workers on the Postmates’ platform got the paid sick and safe time to which they were entitled, and we look forward to our continued partnership with (Office of Labor Standards).”
Uber also recently had to pay a settlement 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 claims for back wages and unpaid sick leave. The money, the labor standard’s office said, will cover unpaid claims from 15,000 local Uber drivers.
Both settlements come under the 2012 regulation that requires Seattle employers to fund sick days for staff at the rate of one day for every 30 calendar days worked. Since its initial approval, the labor standards office has expanded the eligible employees’ group to include gig workers and it added to the list of acceptable reasons to take accrued leave.
