![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/IMG_5830.jpg\")
Deliveristas protesting app deactivations by GrubHub\u2019s new owner before the Council passed the law. Photo: Sophia Lebowitz<\/p>\n
The report calls deactivation protections \u201cessential\u201d for public safety and street safety across the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safety issues are huge, and number one for us is making sure workers don\u2019t need to choose between their safety and their livelihood,\u201d said Levine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last year, the City Council passed<\/a> a bill meant to protect workers from deactivation<\/a> and lockouts<\/a> by forcing app companies to provide a reason for permanently barring a worker from the platform, to give notice, and to create an appeal process. But the legislation was watered down: companies can still do temporary lockouts opaquely. It goes into effect in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n Levine, who previously served as the director of the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said DCWP is ready to enforce the new law and is open to strengthening it through rulemaking or through new legislation. He said he expects the tech companies to continue the pattern of fighting or skirting regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe pattern we have seen in New York City, and really my whole career, but certainly in New York City, is that every time the city passes a reform to help delivery workers, delivery companies fight,\u201d he said. \u201cI would not at all be surprised if companies tried to find new ways around the deactivation protections. \u2026 We\u2019re prepared to respond to that.\u201d<\/p>\n The report compiled workers\u2019 experiences with deactivations. One worker was even shut out of his account on Relay after getting hit by a car and sent to the hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is worth mentioning that when I had the accident, I managed to communicate by message to the chat of the Relay application to let them know that I had had the accident, for which they responded that they were sorry for the inconvenience and that they would proceed to deactivate me,\u201d the anonymous worker wrote in a complaint to DCWP. (Relay has since been absorbed<\/a> into the Wonder\/Grubhub<\/a> conglomerate and shut down as a stand-alone product.)<\/p>\n Another worker who made deliveries by car was told by DoorDash that he \u201cwasn\u2019t driving his car fast enough,\u201d before he got deactivated. Another said he didn\u2019t even get a real reason when he was deactivated from his UberEats account. In his complaint, he begged for help from the agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy account is still permanently deactivated, and it\u2019s unfair because they didn\u2019t give me the opportunity to defend myself. They unfairly took away my family\u2019s daily bread. For God\u2019s sake, I need you to help me,\u201d the worker wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n New protections for grocery delivery workers<\/p>\n