DoorDash settles with NYC for $131.5 million over delivery worker pay

New York City officials say the agreement is the largest worker settlement in city history and will create new protections for delivery workers.

More than 260,000 New York City delivery workers are set to receive compensation from DoorDash under a $131.5 million settlement announced Tuesday by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

The agreement, which was also reported by The New York Times, includes more than $115 million in payments and approximately $16.7 million in civil penalties and costs. City officials described it as the largest worker settlement in New York City history and the largest settlement involving food delivery workers in American municipal history.

The settlement follows a city investigation into DoorDash’s payment practices. According to the city’s findings, thousands of workers were not paid for work they had already performed, while thousands more received payments late. Investigators analyzed billions of rows of DoorDash data, including more than 152 million individual payment transactions and 110 million working hours.

The compensation will generally amount to approximately 200% of what workers were underpaid. For example, a worker who was owed $1,000 but received nothing would receive $3,000, while someone who was paid $1,000 later than legally allowed would receive $2,000.

“When a worker earns a wage, they deserve to be paid that wage — not tomorrow, not after a lawsuit, but on time and in full,” Mamdani said in the city’s announcement. “DoorDash underpaid more than 260,000 workers, and today we are getting that money back.”

DoorDash acknowledged the payment problems in a statement about the settlement, saying, “Simply put, we screwed up.” The company said the errors were not intentional and cited technical problems and complicated delivery situations, while adding that Dashers “should be paid in full, on time, every time.”

The agreement also creates a new worker-driven compliance monitoring system. DoorDash will be required to provide detailed data to the city for three years, while workers will receive tools allowing them to share information about their trips and earnings directly with city officials.

Workers do not need to file a claim to receive their settlement payments. According to the city, personalized notices will begin going out in late October to workers who experienced underpayments between April 22, 2022, and June 28, 2026.

The settlement comes as New York continues enforcing its minimum-pay requirements for app-based delivery workers. The current minimum pay rate is $22.13 per hour, excluding tips. 

“Amidst a cost of living crisis, delivery workers deserve to rest assured that work completed means compensation earned,” Council Member Harvey Epstein said in the city’s announcement.

For workers who have spent years organizing around pay and workplace protections, the settlement represents both compensation for past violations and a new mechanism for monitoring the companies that employ them.