NYC Reaches Record $131.5M Settlement With DoorDash Over Underpaid Delivery Workers

New York City and DoorDash announced a historic $131.5 million settlement on Tuesday to resolve city claims that the platform underpaid or paid delivery workers late. City officials described the agreement as the largest worker settlement in New York City history and the largest settlement involving food-delivery workers in the United States.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, and Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Samuel A. A. Levine unveiled the settlement at City Hall and said the violations were widespread.

"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.

DoorDash, based in San Francisco, acknowledged errors and apologized on its website. "Simply put, we screwed up," the company said, adding that mistakes led some Dashers to be underpaid or paid late. The company said the problems were unintentional, that it has fixed technical issues, and that it has strengthened its compliance programs to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Mamdani pushed back on DoorDash's characterization of the problems as mere "mistakes," calling the violations "sustained" and "rampant," and noting they affected roughly a quarter-million workers.

How the $131.5 Million Breaks Down

The settlement package covers multiple components:

• $12.3 million to compensate Dashers who were underpaid or received late payments.
• $83 million to resolve a dispute over how DoorDash calculated pay for time workers were logged into the app between deliveries.
• $16.7 million in fines to the city's consumer protection agency (DCWP).

Who Is Eligible and What To Expect

DCWP's settlement administrator will email eligible workers in late October. The notices will go to Dashers the city says were underpaid between April 2022 and June 2026 and will detail individual payment amounts. DoorDash says each eligible worker will receive at least $10, even if the calculated underpayment is less.

DoorDash's Explanation and City Context

DoorDash said some payment errors were caused by technical bugs, complex delivery scenarios (such as orders crossing city limits or involving multiple pickups or drop-offs), canceled or partially completed orders, and incomplete or incorrect banking information submitted by some Dashers. The company said it disagreed with the city about how to calculate pay for logged-in time but agreed to settle the dispute.

The settlement comes as New York City intensifies scrutiny of how food-delivery platforms compensate workers. USA Today reported the city has accused DoorDash and rival Uber Eats of shortchanging workers by more than $550 million in tips.

In its statement, DoorDash reiterated: "Dashers should be paid in full, on time, every time. We are sorry to the Dashers we let down." City officials said the settlement is an important step toward ensuring fair pay and accountability.

For more details about the settlement and eligibility, workers should watch for emails from DCWP's settlement administrator in late October.