The Seattle Office of Labor Standards has moved $5 million from big gig companies to gig workers (so far)
Ever since gig workers in Seattle won first-in-the-nation hazard pay + sick leave laws last summer, workers have been enforcing their new rights & bringing cases to the Seattle Office of Labor Standards for investigation.
It’s working.
Over the past year, OLS has moved a total of more than $5 million from gig companies to 24K+ gig workers in Seattle for violations of the sick leave and hazard pay laws. And that’s on top of the millions of dollars workers are already getting when companies comply with the law by providing paid sick time and paying $2.50/job hazard pay.
In the latest settlement, Postmates is paying nearly a million dollars to workers after failing to provide required sick leave during the pandemic.
But it’s not just Postmates paying up. Over the past year, plenty of other gig companies have also reached settlements with OLS. Here’s the rundown:
- June 2020: Seattle passes emergency gig hazard pay and sick leave laws.
- September 2020: DoorDash paid $111,435 to 2,998 gig delivery workers for failing to provide required hazard pay.
- September 2020: Postmates paid $250,000 to 2,975 gig delivery workers for not providing required hazard pay.
- February 2021: GoPuff paid a worker $7,500 in a settlement after the company retaliated against the worker for asserting their right to earn hazard pay.
- April 2021: DoorDash paid another $144,931 to 891 workers — this time for failing to provide required sick leave.
- May 2021: GoPuff paid a total of $102,673 to 71 gig delivery workers after failing to provide hazard pay.
- June 2021: Uber paid a record $3.4 million to 15,718 Uber & Uber Eats drivers for failing to provide sick leave — the largest OLS settlement ever.
It’s all proof that when we pair innovative labor standards policies — designed by workers, for workers — with robust government enforcement, we can raise standards across entire industries and ensure the rights workers win are real.
Seattle is setting a national model for gig workers’ rights — and that may soon include new *permanent* standards, with gig workers leading the way at the Seattle City Council. Stay tuned.
