DoorDash will pay $5 million to settle class-action lawsuit over independent contractors Megan Rose
DoorDash will pay $5 million to settle class-action lawsuit over independent contractors
Megan Rose [email protected] / 7:00 PM EDT•April 10, 2017
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On-demand food delivery startup DoorDash has reached an agreement with workers’ rights lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan regarding a class-action lawsuit that alleged DoorDash misclassified its delivery workers as independent contractors.
As part of the settlement, DoorDash will pay class members of the suit $3.5 million, following the court’s approval. The company has also agreed to pay an additional $1.5 million in four years or when one of three things happen: DoorDash goes public, the company is profitable for a full year or some other company acquires DoorDash at double its current valuation.
In September 2015, Cynthia Marciano and Evan Kissner both separately filed lawsuits against DoorDash, alleging that DoorDash misclassified them and other delivery workers as independent contractors, and therefore violated certain provisions of the labor code.
The named plaintiffs, Marciano and Kissner, will receive $7,500 each and Liss-Riordan will get up to $1.25 million, according to the settlement. The approximately 33,744 class members, which entail all those who worked for DoorDash as independent contractors at some point between September 23, 2011 through August 29, 2016, and completed at least one delivery, will receive payment as part of the settlement.
Those who “were most active” on DoorDash will “receive proportionally higher payments,” the settlement states. DoorDash has also updated its deactivation policy to ensure that all its delivery people retain access to the platform unless they violate the rules of engagement. Before, there was no single source of truth when it came to deactivating people from the platform. Another change is that DoorDash delivery workers will be able to appeal a deactivation if they feel they should not have been deactivated from the platform.
This settlement, however, does not prevent other people from suing DoorDash over this exact same reason in the future. But given that DoorDash worked with Liss-Riordan, the lawyer whose name often shows up on these cases against Uber, Lyft and other on-demand companies, there’s reason to believe that this type of case might be less attractive for complaints in the future. That’s because the resolution they agreed on was not to change independent contractors to employee status, but rather change some policies to improve clarity and ensure more rights for the workers.
“We firmly believe that the autonomy and flexibility Dashers love is made possible by, and consistent only with, their status as independent contractors,” DoorDash General Counsel Keith Yandell wrote on the DoorDash blog. “That said, we feel that this settlement represents a fair compromise, addresses valuable Dasher feedback, and makes changes that will further cement Dashers’ status as independent contractors.”
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Alishah ALi
25 June, 2020
hello doordash let someone else add a fraud bank info to my doordash account that transferred 670$ to that fraud account I contacted doordash even before the payment was processed and they stated that they have to wait until the payment process is completed the very next day I received an email from doordash saying they were able to verify that the amount of 670$ will be included in my next payout but I didn't receive the money I again contacted doordash regarding the same issue and they told me over the chat that there is a pending payment for that amount but I never received it again when I again contacted doordash they told me theyll try to retrieve the payment but its not a guarantee as the payment process was completed this is unacceptable as they are now changin their statements. Is there any way you can help me with that please
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LYNN BRUNE
17 October, 2018
DO THESE COMMENTS GET FORWARDED TO LEGAL COUNCIL? AS DOORDASH LET SOMEONE IN MY ACCOUNT TO ADD THEIR PERSONAL BANK INFO FOR A "DAILY FAST PAY" AND TOOK A WHOLE WEEKS EARNINGS OF $442.68 DOOR DASHES RESPONSE TO THIS WAS " SORRY, SOMEONE ELSE GOT YOUR MONEY AND OUR THIRD PARTY PAYMENT VENDOR CANT REVERSE IT" IT'S BEEN OVER 7 WEEKS AND STILL NO PAY AND FRAUDULENT FAST PAY ACCOUNT STILL SITS ON MY ACCOUNT. THEY CLAIM THEY CANT REMOVE IT. BOTH NOT PAYING ME, AND KEEPING A DOOR DASH EMPLOYEES (OR THEIR PAYMENT VENDORS) FRAUDULENT BANK INFO ON MY ACCOUNT AFTER BRINGING IT TO THEIR ATTENTION HAS GOT TO BE ILLEGAL. AND IS 100% WRONG. CAN YOU HELP ME HERE?
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Dawn Baldwin
27 April, 2020
Need a lawyer who will take my case against Doordash. They have ripped me off and sent me the wrong items for my orders. Today they put pickles and barbeque sauce on my 6 whopper jrs and i never eat like this. Its making my stomach feel sick. Doordash knows me better then having pickles and barbeque sauce. Please help me. They cancelled orders on my sister and me. We need to sue. Pissed off
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Leza Secresty
14 December, 2018
Your bank should have a dispute department where you state your issue, and that it was fraudulent and they had no permission to be taking money like that out of your account. They should be liable for all the debits and any fees that were incurred. Good luck in your ventures!
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derreck jackson
19 December, 2018
I’m currently a Dasher. I am computer literate and am aware of imbedded programs within the DD app that periodically Sends A missed delivery that causes the driver to be defrauded out of their peak deliveries. It’s easy to identify the culprit Delivery alert because they only send the text and not a true delivery. DD will send this alert to those in peak period. They also place drivers phone apps in pause, and when in thus pause state, Dd sends a delivery. DD counts the delivery sent when the phone was on pause as a refusal and does uses thus to exclude peak .
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