{"id":105502,"date":"2026-01-20T06:22:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T06:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/105502\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T06:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T06:22:06","slug":"nyc-mayor-mamdani-widens-delivery-app-crackdown-with-lost-pay-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/105502\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Mayor Mamdani Widens Delivery-App Crackdown With Lost-Pay Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City said it\u2019s suing a food-delivery technology provider for withholding pay from workers, signaling Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s get-tough approach to regulating app-based work.<\/p>\n

Motoclick violated delivery worker laws by failing to pay the required minimum rate and by deducting canceled and refunded orders directly from workers\u2019 paychecks, the city said in a statement Thursday. The practices allegedly left some couriers owing money to the company, which says it works with platforms such as Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub.<\/p>\n

\u201cMotoclick and its CEO tricked New Yorkers into working for their platform with false promises and then stole their tips and earnings, sometimes even driving workers into debt,\u201d said Samuel A.A. Levine, the city\u2019s consumer and worker protection commissioner. He said other delivery apps \u201cshould be on notice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit \u2014 filed in New York State Supreme Court against Motoclick and its head, Juan Pablo Salinas Salek \u2014 adds to a broader compliance push aimed at New York\u2019s booming app-based delivery industry. City officials said Motoclick and Salinas Salek owe workers millions of dollars in unpaid wages and damages.<\/p>\n

Motoclick and its attorneys didn\u2019t immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\"\"Delivery workers outside a grocery store in New York. Photographer: Yuki Iwamura\/Bloomberg<\/p>\n

Levine said his agency had also sent notices to major food-delivery platforms including Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub and Instacart, warning them to comply with new worker protections taking effect later this month. The safeguards include rules on tipping, pay transparency, minimum pay eligibility and timely weekly payments.<\/p>\n

In a report earlier this week, the city accused DoorDash and Uber Eats of depriving delivery workers of more than $550 million in tips after changing the interfaces on their apps. DoorDash called the report \u201cflat-out wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read More: DoorDash, Uber Cost Drivers $550 Million in Tips, NYC Says<\/a><\/p>\n

City officials said they\u2019re seeking to shut down Motoclick entirely, an unusually severe step that underscored the administration\u2019s commitment to stricter enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity Hall does not desire to have an adversarial relationship with any business operating in our city,\u201d Mamdani told reporters. \u201cTo those, however, who think they can make a profit while stealing from their workers while breaking the law, make no mistake: We will have those workers backs each and every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani announced the lawsuit with Levine and Julie Su, the deputy mayor for labor and workforce development, as well as with labor advocates. Su previously served as acting US labor secretary in the Biden administration, while Levine led enforcement at the Federal Trade Commission.<\/p>\n

Their appointments reflect a broader governing philosophy Mamdani has embraced since taking office, one shaped in part by the advice of Lina Khan, the former chair of the FTC. Khan has argued that cities often possess dormant or underused legal authority that can be deployed quickly to regulate powerful companies, particularly in sectors where technology and pricing systems shape workers\u2019 pay.<\/p>\n

Khan has said that food delivery companies warrant scrutiny not only for wage levels but for the design of the systems that govern how work is assigned, tracked and compensated, an approach that city officials said informed their decision to move aggressively against Motoclick.<\/p>\n

The case is City of New York v Patio Delivery Inc., New York State Supreme Court, New York County.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.<\/p>\n

\n Topics
\n Lawsuits<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Interested in Lawsuits?<\/p>\n

Get automatic alerts for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City said it\u2019s suing a food-delivery technology provider for withholding pay from workers, signaling Mayor Zohran…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[46588,341,38232,22925,47899,9,56,63,65,64,46085,47900],"class_list":{"0":"post-105502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-delivery-app","9":"tag-doordash","10":"tag-grubhub","11":"tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","12":"tag-motoclick","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-uber-eats","19":"tag-wage-theft"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}