San Francisco’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit against DoorDash, the U.S. food market leader, that would force the company to reclassify its workers as employees – days after a judge dramatically filed a similar lawsuit in a case against Uber and Lyft. .
Chesa Boudin, the San Francisco District Attorney, filed the motion Wednesday, which would apply to all DoorDash workers in California. The move was another escalation in the state’s struggle to halt the gig economy’s controversial business model.
“We are seeking an immediate end to DoorDash’s illegal conduct of failing to provide basic workplace protection workers,” Mr Boudin said in a statement.
“All three branches of government of California have already made it clear that these workers are employees under California law and are entitled to this important safety.”
The district attorney’s motion follows State Attorney Xavier Becerra’s successful attempt to give a judge a preliminary injunction against Uber and Lyft.
On Monday, Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman said the ride-sharing companies had until August 20 to classify their drivers, although in time the companies are expected to go into appeal. Not yet known, but set to be discussed at a hearing on Thursday is when the deadline will be pushed back while that appeal is heard.
If not, Uber and Lyft have said they will be forced to stop operations in California, possibly for more than a year, while changes to their systems are implemented. Reorganization would mean that drivers would receive health benefits, sick pay, paid leave and other benefits that are not currently available to them.
DoorDash would not comment on whether its business would be able to continue if it was also forced by a preliminary order to reclassify workers, a decision that could come as early as early October.
Complicating matters further, the action against Uber and Lyft applies only to drivers with ride parts, which means that Uber’s food app, which competes intensely against DoorDash, would remain unaffected. The district attorney’s office could not comment on the deviation when asked by the Financial Times on Wednesday.
A spokesman for DoorDash told the FT: “In the midst of one of the deepest economic recessions in our nation’s history, today’s action by the District Attorney is threatening billions of dollars in revenue for California Dashers and revenue for restaurants that rely on supply delivery to keep their businesses open. ”
The company said its internal data suggested that the majority of its workers wanted to stay as contractors, arguing – like other gig economy companies – that flexibility over working hours and location would not be possible under an employee model.
DoorDash has contributed $ 30 million to a common fund supporting Proposition 22, a new measure in the November vote that would, for app-based workers, override the law being enacted in the current cases against the gig companies. Uber and Lyft have each placed the same amount, in addition to other contributions from gig economy groups. The total support for the “Yes to 22” campaign now stands at more than $ 110 million.
Opponents of the change have raised $ 1.6 million, according to the latest reports – but have the support of both Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, even a former San Francisco attorney.
