Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub sue over NYC $18-per-hour rule

Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub sued New York City Thursday over a new rule that would require the food delivery companies to pay their workers nearly $18 an hour.

In two lawsuits filed in the New York Supreme Court, the food delivery companies sued to block the rule from going into effect next week. 

DoorDash and Grubhub argued in a joint suit that the “ill-conceived” rule would have “drastic” and “immediate” consequences, while Uber warned in a separate lawsuit that the city’s “grand marketplace experiment risks crushing restaurants and the increasingly important food delivery market.”

The rule, announced by New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) and the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection last month, requires food delivery companies to pay their couriers $17.96 per hour starting July 12. This would increase to $18.96 an hour in April 2024 and $19.96 in April 2025.

“Our delivery workers have consistently delivered for us — now, we are delivering for them,” Adams said during the June announcement.

Uber argued that the rule was based on “flawed data resulting from biased surveys and unrealistic assumptions that amount to little more than wishful thinking,” a sentiment that was echoed in the lawsuit from DoorDash and Grubhub.

“It is more important to get the issue of courier earnings right than to get it done a month or two more quickly,” Uber added in the lawsuit filed Thursday.