Instacart has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court asking a judge to strike down New York City’s minimum wage for grocery delivery workers.
Laws passed by the City Council over the summer provide protections and establish a minimum pay rate for app-based grocery delivery workers.
What You Need To Know
Instacart has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court asking a judge to strike down New York City’s minimum wage for grocery delivery workers
Laws passed by the City Council over the summer provide protections and establish a minimum pay rate for app-based grocery delivery workers
Under the package of legislation, companies like Instacart must pay workers at least $21.44 for every active hour. The change is set to take effect in January
In a complaint lodged Tuesday, Instacart argues the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection was “improperly” delegated the authority to set pay standards without enough guidance.
The company claims the laws will drive up the cost of groceries and force it to limit the number of workers it can employ.
Under the package of legislation, companies like Instacart must pay workers at least $21.44 for every active hour, matching the rate set earlier in the year for restaurant delivery workers. The changes are set to take effect in January.
Instacart claims the City Council improperly applied the minimum-pay rate for restaurant delivery workers to grocery delivery, calling it “divorced from the realities of grocery delivery generally and Instacart’s platform more specifically.”
In a statement, an Instacart spokesperson said the city’s “deeply flawed grocery delivery law oversteps federal and state authority and was enacted without any studies to understand its real-world impacts.”
“The result is a law that will hurt shoppers by eliminating earnings opportunities, hurt families by reducing access to and raising the cost of grocery delivery, and hurt local businesses by reducing sales across all five boroughs,” the spokesperson said.
City officials, however, defended the laws.
“Every worker should get dignified pay, and app-based grocery delivery workers fall in that category, and it’s disappointing that Instacart doesn’t agree,” Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga said on “Mornings On 1” Wednesday.
In a statement, the department said Instacart shoppers “are currently paid just $13 per hour, with no benefits, no pay for waiting time, and no reimbursement for vehicle expenses.”
“No business in New York could legally compensate employees at such a low level. These workers deserve better,” the department added. “We will continue to fight to protect and improve their rights, close loopholes that undercut their wages, and ensure every grocery delivery worker receives the fair pay and protections they are owed.”
A City Council spokesperson, meanwhile, said delivery workers “play a major role in our city’s economy and they deserve to be protected from exploitation.”
“The Council expects that these laws will be upheld in court,” the spokesperson added.