San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Wednesday that he has filed a motion that would force DoorDash to classify suppliers as employees rather than as self-employed, a predatory pay system that the employers of gig economy benefit greatly, at the expense of basic protection for the people who work for them.
“We are seeking an immediate end to DoorDash’s illegal conduct of failing to provide suppliers with basic workplace protection,” Boudin said in a statement. “All three branches of the California government have already made it clear that these workers are workers under California law and are entitled to these important protective measures. The lack of basic protection for these workers puts them at risk, especially during the COVID pandemic. ”
Boudin previously saxed the company in June for “legally classifying” its employees as contractors instead of as full-time employees. The motion follows a similar blow to economy goliaths Uber and Lyft, who were ordered earlier this week by a judge to classify drivers as protected full-time workers in California. Those parasitic companies have since threatened shut down their businesses in the state until November if they do not get their way, a movement that underscores the soulless cowardice of these companies during a damn pandemic.
DoorDash did not immediately return a request for comment on whether it would stop operations before a November vote is over. Theorem 22– it’s a mood initiative helps with funds in addition to Uber, Lyft, Instacart and Postmates – however, a spokesman for the company offered the same ass-backward logic equally used by Uber earlier this week in its own defense of its classification of workers as self-employed.
Amid one of the deepest economic recessions in our nation’s history, this District Attorney’s action threatens billions of dollars in revenue for California Dashers and revenue for restaurants that rely on selling supplies to open their businesses. to keep, ”the DoorDash spokesman said. “An overwhelming 98% of Dashers tell us that the freedom to choose when and how they work is important, and that’s why we are committed to fighting for the work they want and we are confident that voters that independence will be supported by voting Yes on Proposition 22 in November. ”
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When Gizmodo tried to verify the accuracy (or even sample size) of this claim, a DoorDash spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for a copy of the workers’ survey supporting the 98% figure. Even if this statement is precise by one grim miracle, ‘freedom’ is not valued as, or even distinguished from, appreciation of workplace protection.
DoorDash also has one history of massage data to increase own agenda.
The argument that classifying employees hurts when it helps their employees – despite the fact that they would have access to rights such as overtime, sick leave, and a minimum wage – sounds hollow when looking at the amount of money DoorDash has dumped, along with its gig- economy peers, to get his way. DoorDash only has smashed roughly $ 30 million behind voting agency initiative in California Proposition 22, the Hail Mary of the gig economy are trying to reverse the rules of AB5 and continue to classify app-based delivery managers as self-employed contractors with some protections but not all of those rights that would give the completed classification of employees.
There are also problems with DoorDash’s logic that redistribution of workers would negatively increase workers’ incomes. There is certainly enough work to do: the pandemic has created one unusual question for delivery, and business flourishes (even if real profitability remains unsustainable). Moreover, the company, like other gig-economy titles, has had about a year to prepare for such a change, as AB5 was made law in September of 2019. The implication that a company with this size of an economic footprint – and roughly Estimated $ 16 billion—Is inability to allocate funds to restructure its California employee redeployment company is absurd. Maybe what DoorDash means is that redistribution of employees would hurt company earnings, and that it aims to make a difference by placing their fingers even deeper in the pockets of drivers
DoorDash always has one many snakes, but the more it tries to wriggle out of treating its workers with decency, the clearer it becomes.
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