Uber Eats agrees to $15 million settlement with Seattle

Uber Eats has agreed to pay more than $15 million to 16,120 drivers over alleged violations of Seattle’s pay transparency law for independent contracts and its minimum wage law for app-based workers.

The settlement is the largest reached by Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards, which is tasked with investigating alleged violations of the city’s many labor laws.

Mayor Bruce Harrell called the settlement “a major win for workers and a strong reminder that in Seattle, we hold large companies accountable when they sidestep their responsibilities and shortchange workers.”

Uber Eats was hit with violations of two city laws.

One, the Independent Contractor Protections Ordinance, requires entities like Uber and others that use independent workers disclose how much a job pays and the calculations behind that rate, in addition to timely payment.

Under that law, a driver for Uber Eats complained that the company’s “boost” program – which offers higher rates in busy areas – implied higher possible earnings than were reality and therefore fell short of the city’s requirements.

That complaint resulted in a more than $13.5 million settlement. Uber Eats no longer uses its boost program in Seattle.

The second complaint resulted in a $1.5 million settlement and concerned the city’s minimum wage law for app-based workers. Several workers complained they were not being paid for trips that had been canceled for cause. The office additionally alleged Uber Eats was not including all relevant information on its daily and weekly receipts.

Uber Eats denied both allegations but nevertheless agreed to the settlement amounts.

Both laws were part of a suite of laws passed by previous versions of the Seattle City Council, which sought to legislate app-based companies more like large employers than businesses reliant on independent contracts.

The current council is more hostile to such regulation and tried to rewrite some of the legislation, but fell short.

A recent report from online lender NetCredit found Seattle had some of the most expensive rides in the country.