Gig companies must provide essential protections for essential workers

If our work for Instacart, Postmates, DoorDash, and more is considered "essential" during the coronavirus crisis, we need essential protections: sick leave, hazard pay, safety standards, and compensation for lost income. Scroll down to learn more, and then click here to add your name in support.

A growing list of states across the US — from Washington state to New York, Illinois, and California — have issued “shelter in place” orders to mitigate the coronavirus crisis. Specifics vary from place to place, but there’s at least one thing all these emergency orders have in common: they’ve all declared restaurant, grocery, and package delivery to be “essential work” that should continue during the shutdown. (+)

Millions of workers across the country are being instructed to stay home and stay safe — especially those who are elderly, immunocompromised, or otherwise at high risk of developing COVID. They can avoid going out because shoppers on apps like Instacart and Shipt are bringing their groceries to their doorstep. Restaurant delivery workers on DoorDash, Postmates, Caviar, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and more are keeping restaurants in business as they shift to takeout-only models. Package delivery couriers on apps like Amazon Flex, Axlehire, and Roadie are ensuring people in quarantine can access the supplies they need.

As gig workers, our work is, in fact, essential — especially now.

So why aren’t we getting the essential protections all workers need in this time of crisis? (+)

Some retailers have added hazard pay and bonuses for employees who have to continue working during this time. A few states have even declared grocery store workers to be “emergency workers” and get additional benefits during the crisis. But for gig workers, there’s no pay bump, no sick days, no benefits, not even supplies to stay safe at work.

Many of us were already living on the edge thanks to the subminimum wages companies pay. But instead of making sure we can make it through this crisis, gig companies are just profiting off the boost to their business. (+)

Instead of paying us, they're spending their money on recruiting new workers who have been laid off from regular jobs & are turning to gig work to survive — because they know they can keep their pay low if they flood the market with new workers.

They’re doing nothing to support workers who can’t work due to quarantine, closures, or decreased demand — even though they know we can’t access unemployment, since they don’t pay unemployment premiums. They’re not even providing the protections we need to do our jobs safely.

And most disturbingly: they’re taking credit for the work we’re doing to keep our communities safe and at home — while they completely fail to provide paid leave to ensure their own workers can stay home if we’re sick.

Almost every major gig company has now released a PR statement claiming they’re protecting sick workers and public health by offering us paid sick leave. The reality is, the sick leave systems they’re setting up do nothing to ensure sick workers can afford to stay at home. (+)

The majority of gig companies are offering paid sick leave only to those workers who can provide proof of a positive COVID test — which most cannot access. The few companies that cover workers in other situations have found innovative bureaucratic loopholes to deactivate sick workers, but deem them ineligible for aid. Their “sick leave” is designed to be so impossible to navigate, the vast majority of sick workers cannot access funds.

That means workers who have COVID symptoms are continuing to make deliveries. It means workers who are immunocompromised are still going to work. It means workers are spending their limited funds on ER visits just to get a doctor's note.

Setting up sick leave with impossibly high barriers to access not only hurts workers — it also strains our healthcare system and harms public health.

 
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Our work is essential. And companies like Postmates, DoorDash, and Instacart have billions of dollars at their disposal. They cannot shift the burden onto workers who are already on the brink of financial crisis. They have a responsibility to protect the people doing this essential work — and they have a responsibility to their customers, partners, and the public too.

We need long-term economic security so a public crisis or personal emergency doesn’t push us over the edge — a pay floor for independent contractors, transparency, and basic rights & benefits. Right now, we also need immediate action to get us through the crisis. By continuing to send us to work without basic protections, gig companies could further the spread of the coronavirus — and it’s a danger to workers, to public health, and to our communities.

To fulfill their responsibility to their workers and to the health of our communities, gig companies must take these steps to protect public health & provide basic economic security. And the local leaders who deem our work “essential” must ensure workers get these basic protections from companies that continue operating during this crisis.

During the coronavirus crisis, gig companies must provide:

1) A minimum of 14 days of unrestricted, immediate paid leave, plus access to additional leave when necessary, so that workers can stay at home to protect ourselves and the public. (+)

  • Workers need at minimum 14 days of unrestricted paid leave that compensates us based on our average earnings, including tips, for each day worked over the last year.
  • Access to paid leave must be immediate — we must be able to access this aid by the next pay date after we file to receive it.
  • Companies must also give workers access to additional leave if their illness or caregiving responsibilities require it, via state paid family & medical leave programs or other systems.
  • If additional paid leave requires documentation from a doctor, companies must provide access to healthcare.

2) Hazard pay of $5 for every delivery and an additional $5 for any job that includes shopping to acknowledge the risk we’re taking on and the extra time and attention our work now takes. (+)

  • Hazard pay must be paid on top of the pay, tips, and demand-based bonuses companies are already providing, at a rate of $5 per delivery to a customer, and $10 for any job that includes both shopping and delivery.
  • Companies must also directly compensate workers for additional time spent communicating with support or customers, or for orders that are cancelled due to restaurant closures or lack of supplies.

3) Protection & safety standards on the job — give us the supplies we need to stay safe, like gloves, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant, and contactless delivery as the default to reduce the risk of exposure on the job. (+)

  • Companies must provide us with the supplies we need to do our jobs safely — like gloves, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant.
  • Contactless delivery must be made the default for all jobs.
  • Companies must cover costs for all workers related to COVID testing or assessment.

4) Compensation for lost income — don’t block workers from receiving unemployment benefits, and commit to provide aid for workers who aren’t eligible, so this crisis doesn’t push us over the edge. (+)

  • Companies must commit to pay unemployment premiums for workers who lose work during the crisis, and not challenge unemployment claims workers file with their states.
  • For workers who can’t access unemployment, companies must cover lost wages during the crisis.

This is a matter not only of protecting workers, but protecting our communities. Gig workers are on the front lines of this crisis. If leaders and companies are counting on us to keep our cities running, supplies delivered, and families fed, we need to be able to count on them too.