DoorDash, the San Francisco-based prepared food delivery service, could be the latest gig company to face an injunction to treat its workers as employees, not independent contractors.
The Financial Times reported San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has filed for a preliminary injunction against the country’s largest food delivery service that would require the company to reclassify its workers as employees.
“We are seeking an immediate end to DoorDash’s illegal behavior of failing to provide delivery workers with basic workplace protections,” Boudin said in a statement. “All three branches of California’s government have already made clear that these workers are employees under California law and entitled to these important safeguards.”
If Boudin’s request is approved by the court, the ruling would apply to DoorDash workers in California. A reclassification of workers would mean gig workers with healthcare benefits, sick pay, paid leave and other benefits not currently available to them.
“In the midst of one of the deepest economic recessions in our nation’s history, today’s action by the district attorney threatens billions of dollars in earnings for California Dashers and revenue for restaurants that rely upon sales from delivery to keep their businesses open,” DoorDash told FT in a statement.
The action against DoorDash comes days after a California judge granted a similar injunction against Uber and Lyft at the request of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
On Monday (Aug. 10), California Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman said the ride-share companies have until August 20 to reclassify their drivers. The companies are expected to appeal. The injunction requires Uber and Lyft to stop classifying their drivers as independent contractors pending further action by the court.
In response, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told MSNBC this week that it may have to close temporarily.
“If the court doesn’t reconsider, then in California, it’s hard to believe we’ll be able to switch our model to full-time employment quickly,” she told the network.
Like Uber and Lyft, DoorDash said most of its workers prefer to be contractors, arguing that flexibility over working hours and location is impossible under an employee model.
In November, voters will be asked to approve Proposition 22, a ballot question that would repeal the gig law.
FT reported DoorDash has contributed $30 million to a joint fund supporting the ballot initiative. Uber and Lyft have each put in the same amount, along with contributions from other gig economy groups. The total backing for the “Yes on 22” campaign now stands at more than $110 million, the newspaper reported.
The opposition has only raised $1.6 million, according to the filings with the state of California.
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