DoorDash will pay $131.5 million to resolve a New York City investigation into the company’s handling of delivery worker pay, with more than $115 million going directly to roughly 264,000 workers. The settlement is being described by city officials as the largest worker settlement in New York City history.
The agreement follows an investigation by New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), which found that DoorDash workers had been underpaid, paid late or, in some cases, not paid for work they had already completed. The company will also pay approximately $16.7 million in civil penalties and related costs.
According to Reuters, about $83 million of the worker relief addresses a dispute over how DoorDash calculated compensation for time workers were logged into the app but were not actively completing deliveries. Another $12.3 million covers payments that were missed or arrived later than required.
The investigation involved an extensive review of DoorDash records, including more than 152 million payment transactions and 110 million hours of work. City officials said the review uncovered problems involving both minimum-pay calculations and payments that were delayed or missing.
DoorDash acknowledged the payment errors, saying they were not intentional. The company attributed many of the problems to technical bugs and complicated delivery situations, including orders that crossed city boundaries, involved multiple pickup or drop-off locations, were partially completed or canceled, as well as cases involving incomplete banking information. DoorDash said it has corrected the technical issues that contributed to the mistakes.
The settlement also introduces a new three-year monitoring system designed to give New York City regulators greater visibility into DoorDash’s payment practices. The company will provide detailed pay data to the city each month, while a worker-driven system will allow delivery workers to share information about their trips and earnings directly with regulators.
DoorDash will also be required to make software updates and strengthen internal controls to ensure workers’ compensable time is properly recorded. An internal compliance monitor will track potential violations, document corrective actions and provide annual reports to the city.
For eligible workers, the settlement provides a direct path to compensation. The city says workers do not need to file a claim or submit additional evidence because officials have already identified individuals owed money through their analysis of DoorDash records. Payments are expected to begin this fall, with additional payments scheduled for some workers in early 2027.
The settlement puts renewed attention on how app-based companies calculate earnings and track working time. For thousands of New York City delivery workers, the agreement could mean recovering money the city says they were entitled to receive under local labor protections.
