Mamdani Forces DoorDash to Pay $131m for Underpaying Workers

Zohran Mamdani has secured a historic $131.5m settlement from food delivery firm DoorDash after it underpaid its workers in New York City. 

The company, which last year spent $1.4m trying to stop Mamdani from being elected, committed “systematic violations” of the city’s Deliver Worker Laws, the mayor’s office said on Tuesday. 

The violations affected 260,000 workers who were either underpaid, not paid at all, or paid late.   

“This is the largest worker settlement in New York City history and the largest [ever] settlement involving food delivery workers in the United States,” the mayor’s office said.   

Mamdani added: “When a worker earns a wage, they deserve to be paid that wage – not tomorrow, not after a lawsuit, but on time and in full.”

Julie Su, deputy mayor for economic justice, said: “The size of this settlement shows the damage done to workers by wage theft. But it also shows that enforcement matters.”

As part of the settlement, DoorDash will also be monitored under a new system to ensure it remains compliant with the law. 

DoorDash said in a statement that it had underpaid its workers by mistake. “These errors were unintentional, but that doesn’t make them acceptable… We take full responsibility, and we’re deeply sorry.”

The majority of the settlement – $115m – will go directly to delivery workers, while the remaining will go towards civil penalties and costs.

Samuel Levine of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, told Al Jazeera the settlement was a result of Mamdani’s administration “investing directly and bringing in the best lawyers, investigators, data scientists and economists” to “identify violations when they happen, and put money back in people’s pockets.”