New York City on Thursday announced new protections for third-party delivery workers, including letting them choose routes and getting more information about deliveries, the mayor’s office said.
The new rules go into effect Friday and also mandate that delivery workers get paid at least once a week and are provided with insulated delivery bags after six deliveries, according to an announcement by New York Mayor Eric Adams and Vilda Vera Mayuga, commissioner for the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
“These worker protection laws are the second part of a suite of new sweeping legislation regulating online third-party food delivery apps and enforcing brand new labor standards for delivery workers,” the announcement said. “The first part of the legislation, which requires third-party food delivery apps to be licensed to operate in New York City, went into effect in January 2022.”
Under the new rules, staring April 22 third-party food delivery platforms must:
- Allow food delivery workers to set limitations on distances they will travel from restaurants and which bridges or tunnels they are unwilling to use;
- Provide upfront disclosure to food delivery workers about route, pay, and gratuities;
- Pay food delivery workers at least once a week;
- Offer payment options to food delivery workers that are free of charge; and
- Provide a free insulated delivery bag to a food delivery worker after six deliveries.
Adams said in a statement: “As a blue-collar mayor, I am committed to ensuring every worker in this city has fair, equitable and safe working conditions. Delivery workers brave difficult conditions year-round, often for meager pay, simply to do their jobs. These hard-won protections are critically important to advancing worker justice and giving the more than 65,000 delivery workers across this city the dignity they deserve.”
In addition to the new worker protection laws, the January regulations required certain third-party food delivery apps to have a Department of Consumer and Worker Protection license, to tell workers how much the customer tips for each delivery, to have written agreements with restaurants, to list the phone number of the restaurant on the app if a phone number is provided, and, in some cases, to provide restaurants with customer data if available.
“Agreements entered on or after Jan. 24, 2022, must contain a provision requiring the restaurant to allow bathroom access to delivery workers, with limited exceptions for health and safety reasons,” the agency said.
Starting Jan. 1, 2023, the third-party delivery platforms will also be required to pay workers a new minimum pay rate that the city will set. The rate will not include tips. The DCWP is conducting a study to determine the new minimum rate.
The DCWP said it has been working with organizations to conduct presentations about the new rules to workers in Spanish, English, Chinese and Bengali.
Delivery workers, app platforms, restaurants and consumers can visit nyc.gov/DeliveryApps for multilingual resources and information about the new regulations.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless
