New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga announced that the city’s minimum wage for app-based restaurant delivery workers is increasing to at least $19.56 per hour, before tips.
“Our delivery workers have consistently delivered for us – and today the city is delivering for them,” Adams said.
“And while wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living, since the new pay rate has been enforced, delivery workers have already seen a 165 percent increase in their pay per week. This is what it looks like to stand with working-class New Yorkers and build a fairer economy.”
This plan was first put into motion in June 2023, when the Adams administration set New York’s first-of-its-kind minimum pay rate for app-based restaurant delivery workers.
When this plan is fully implemented on April 1, 2025, these workers will earn at least $19.96 per hour with an adjustment for inflation.
However, this plan was not met without resistance. In July 2023, the major food delivery apps pushed back on this decision by suing the city, but the New York State Supreme Court ruled in the city’s favor.
The apps filed an appeal to the State Supreme Court’s ruling, but it was denied, allowing the DCWP to begin enforcing the minimum pay rate.
To ensure that delivery companies are compliant, the DCWP has been actively monitoring their actions, especially larger ones such as GrubHub, DoorDash and UberEats. These three companies alone make up 95% of the entire market.
The compliance data submitted by these three companies show that this plan is making a positive difference for workers without hurting the consumers or the restaurants.
First, delivery workers are now earning $16.3 million per week more in wages.
Second, apps are using the workers’ time more efficiently while maintaining the same number of app-based delivery workers. The number of orders per week and the number of workers have remained steady since enforcement of the minimum pay rate began, and the amount of time workers spent waiting for trips decreased.
Finally, the number of deliveries performed by workers for Uber Eats, DoorDash or Grubhub has stayed consistent, with all three averaging about 2.6 million deliveries a week, both before and after enforcing the rate.
This minimum pay rate is just the start of the city’s plan to improve working conditions for delivery workers. In his third State of the City Address, Adams introduced his plans to create the New York City Department of Sustainable Delivery, the nation’s first regulatory entity that aims to establish clear guidelines for the future of delivery.
“Our 60,000-plus delivery workers make New York City run. Whether a pandemic or natural disaster, they are out in the streets braving dangerous traffic to bring New Yorkers whatever they need,” New York State Assemblywoman Jennifer Rajkumar said.
“Many of them are immigrants working day and night to achieve the American Dream. Just as they deliver for us, we will deliver for them.”
Delivery workers can visit DCWP’s Third-Party Food Delivery Services page or call 311 and say “delivery worker,” to learn more about the minimum pay rate.
Workers can also submit questions or file complaints related to the minimum pay rate or other delivery worker laws in multiple languages online or by contacting 311.
