NEW: Hazard pay for food & grocery deliveries in Seattle — what you need to know
Hazard pay for gig workers is now the law in Seattle: beginning Friday June 26th at 8:30 and continuing until the end of the official coronavirus state of emergency, you should be receiving an extra $2.50 in hazard pay (also called “premium pay”) for each delivery of food or groceries you make inside the city limits of Seattle.
Gig workers in Seattle have won a huge breakthrough here — this is the first local law to require hazard pay anywhere in the country, and it only happened because workers with the Pay Up campaign organized, spoke out, and kept pushing to make it happen. (And while it’s starting in Seattle, it shouldn’t end there — we need more laws like this across the country!)
What you need to know
Here’s some key details on how Seattle’s hazard pay law works:
Gig restaurant and grocery delivery apps are now required to pay workers an additional $2.50 for each delivery inside the Seattle city limits for as long the city’s coronavirus state of emergency lasts. This applies to apps like Instacart, DoorDash, Postmates, Uber Eats, Shipt, GrubHub, and GoPuff.
Hazard pay must be paid as an additional amount on top of what a job would have otherwise paid. The hazard pay must be listed separately on your pay report from other kinds of pay, tips, and bonuses.
For stacked deliveries, the apps have to pay an additional $1.25 in hazard pay for each additional delivery point, on top of the $2.50. So if you have a job where you pick up two orders at a single Chipotle location, and deliver to two different customers, that job would generate $2.50+$1.25 = $3.75 in hazard pay.
Hazard pay for restaurant and grocery deliveries in Seattle starts today (June 26th, at 8:30pm), and continues for as long as the city’s coronavirus state of emergency is in effect, or until the City Council passes a permanent law raising pay for gig workers.
You don’t have to live in Seattle to get hazard pay, you just have to do a delivery inside the Seattle city limits. This map shows the official boundaries of Seattle.
Are you seeing Hazard Pay on your jobs?
Help us enforce this law —use our Hazard Pay Tracker to let us know what you’re seeing, app by app and job by job:
Frequently asked questions
What jobs do I get hazard pay for?
Gig delivery workers will get $2.50 in hazard pay for each restaurant or grocery delivery job with a pick-up or drop-off location in Seattle. This applies to all large restaurant and grocery delivery app platforms like Instacart, Shipt, DoorDash, Postmates, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Amazon Fresh, GoPuff, and other similar apps. In addition to the $2.50 in hazard pay for each job, workers are also entitled to $1.25 in additional hazard pay for each additional pick-up or drop-off point. (For example, a stacked job with one pick-up location and two drop-off points would require a total of $3.75 in hazard pay.)
When does the hazard pay start?
The hazard pay requirement starts on June 26th at 8:30 pm, when the mayor signed it into law. Hazard pay continues until the coronavirus state of emergency is over, or until the City Council passes a permanent law raising pay for gig workers.
Will they just reduce base pay?
Apps are not allowed to reduce base pay in response to the hazard pay ordinance. This is part of the reason why they are required to list the hazard pay separately on your pay statements — to make it harder for them to play games. Of course, some of these apps are so tricky and have such complicated pay models that it might be challenging to know what they’re up to, but we have some ideas! The first step is to gather information about exactly what is happening on each of these apps. So if you think an app is reducing base pay or retaliating in any way in response to this ordinance, let us know about it.
Will the companies just pass the cost on to customers?
These companies can afford it. They’ve been booming during the coronavirus crisis — and they were already worth billions of dollars. The hazard pay law provides that grocery delivery apps like Instacart are not allowed to pass on any additional cost to customers. Restaurant delivery apps can choose to pass on the cost, or choose not to. But no matter how these companies choose to play it, we’ve heard from huge numbers of customers who are happy to pay a bit more if it means essential workers are finally getting some essential protections.
What about raising pay permanently?
That’s the central goal of the Pay Up campaign: winning permanent laws requiring gig companies to pay workers at least minimum wage plus expenses, with tips on top, and pay transparency. Hazard pay of $2.50/delivery doesn’t get us there, but it’s a great immediate step along the way to force these companies to recognize the extra risk essential workers are taking on during this crisis — and that actually moves money from giant corporate bank accounts into workers pockets.
Fighting for hazard pay has also gotten us a ton of attention from local politicians, who have heard from workers and been moved to take action. Several councilmembers have assured us that permanently raising pay for gig workers is now on their agenda to get done this year. It’s up to us to make it happen — but we have the power, the opportunity, and the momentum to get there.
What about sick days?
Seattle City Council passed a separate ordinance requiring sick days for gig workers on June 1st. That law takes effect on July 13th. Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards has some basic information about the law on their website, and we’ll be sharing info as well — stay tuned for more details on that in the next few weeks
How do we enforce this law & make sure it actually happens?
Winning hazard pay is a big breakthrough — and we know the gig companies aren’t happy about it. That’s why they’ve been sending out misleading emails, buying newspaper ads to try and confuse the issue, and hiring lobbyists to try and stop us. They’re probably also having meetings to dream up some shady ways to try and get around paying hazard pay. So we know this fight doesn’t stop with just passing the law — what really matters is making sure the money actually gets into our pockets.
Enforcing this law is going to take organizing — and the first step is to let us know what you’re seeing. Forward any emails you’re getting from the companies to gig@workingwa.org, and let us know ASAP if you’re seeing apps change their pay models, reduce base rates, if you see tips suddenly get lower, or any other nonsense. Getting on top of what’s happening is the first step to making sure hazard pay isn’t just a promise on a webpage, but an actual reality in your pay report.