Seattle's minimum pay ordinance hurting delivery drivers it meant to help
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The Seattle City Council’s recently implemented minimum payment ordinance for app-based workers like those who work handling deliveries through apps such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Instacart is hurting the workers it intended to help.
In 2022, the Seattle City Council enacted a first-of-its-kind ordinance that aimed to help ensure that app-based delivery drivers earn a minimum wage plus tips and compensation for expenses. That law took effect last month and effectively requires companies to pay the greater of a minimum per-minute amount of $0.44 and a minimum per-mile amount of $0.74, or a minimum per-offer amount of $5.
In practice, this has prompted companies like DoorDash and Instacart to pay their independent contractor delivery drivers $26 or more per hour to comply with the regulation and cover their costs. That amount is well above the city of Seattle’s regular minimum wage of $19.97 per hour and has forced those companies to pass some of those costs on to consumers placing orders.
Gary Lardizabal, who lives in Seattle and has made deliveries through Uber since 2016, told FOX Business that the delivery business has fallen off dramatically since the first week of the ordinance’s implementation as consumers balk at higher prices for orders.
DOORDASH, UBER EATS HIKE FEES IN BLUE STATE CITY OVER DELIVERY APP MINIMUM PAY LAW
The Seattle City Council's new minimum payment law for app-based «gig workers» took effect last month, with delivery workers and the app companies reporting a decline in orders. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images / Getty Images)
«My experience in downtown Seattle,
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