More than 260,000 delivery workers are set to receive relief after a city investigation found underpayments, missed payments and late payments.

New York City’s $131.5 million DoorDash settlement will send more than $115 million to delivery workers after city investigators found that the company underpaid some workers, failed to pay others, and made some payments late. The agreement, announced Sept. 22, is one of the largest labor-enforcement actions in city history and will affect more than 260,000 workers.

The case centers on New York City’s delivery-worker pay rules, which set minimum compensation standards for app-based restaurant and grocery delivery work. City officials say DoorDash failed to count some work time correctly and did not always make required payments on time.

What the DoorDash settlement includes

According to the New York City Mayor’s Office, the $131.5 million agreement includes more than $115 million in direct relief for delivery workers and more than $16 million in civil penalties and other costs.

• More than 260,000 workers are expected to receive relief.
• DoorDash must provide detailed pay data to the city every month for three years.
• The company must strengthen internal controls and maintain a compliance-monitoring system.
• Workers will have a new way to share trip and earnings data directly with city regulators.
• Eligible workers do not need to file a claim to receive payments.

Reuters reported that about 264,000 workers are covered by the settlement and that the median payment is expected to be about $48. Individual payments will vary based on a worker’s records and the type of violation involved.

What investigators say went wrong

The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, known as DCWP, said its investigation began after workers complained that they had not been paid or had been paid late. The agency later expanded the review using DoorDash payroll and trip data.

City investigators said they analyzed more than 152 million payment transactions and 110 million working hours. They concluded that DoorDash excluded some categories of trip time and on-call time when calculating pay under the city’s minimum-pay rules.

A large share of the settlement addresses that dispute. Reuters reported that $83 million is tied to how DoorDash counted time when workers were logged into the app but were not actively making a delivery. Another $12.3 million addresses payments that were missed or arrived late.

DoorDash acknowledged mistakes in its own statement, saying, “Simply put, we screwed up.” The company said the errors were not intentional and pointed to technical problems and complicated delivery situations, including trips that crossed city boundaries, involved multiple stops, or were canceled or only partly completed.

How much delivery workers are supposed to earn

New York City’s current minimum pay rate for covered app-based restaurant and grocery delivery workers is $22.13 per hour, not including tips, according to DCWP. The rate is adjusted annually for inflation.

The city’s delivery-worker rules include formulas for compensable time, additional pay requirements and disclosure rules. How those rules should apply to specific kinds of on-call time and complex deliveries was a central issue in the city’s investigation.

DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub have had multiple legal disputes with New York City over delivery regulations. At the same time, city agencies have continued to enforce the rules that remain in effect.

When workers will receive their money

City officials say most affected workers will not have to submit paperwork or prove that they were underpaid. DCWP says it identified eligible workers through DoorDash records.

Workers who experienced an underpayment between April 22, 2022, and June 28, 2026, are expected to receive personalized emails in late October. Those messages will explain how much money they are owed and will allow workers to choose an electronic payment or a check by mail.

A second round of payments is expected in early 2027 for a smaller group of workers whose compensation may still be affected by changes DoorDash is making to its pay-calculation system.

A new monitoring system will follow the settlement

The agreement does more than resolve past claims. DoorDash must provide monthly data to DCWP for three years so the city can review compliance with delivery-worker laws.

DCWP is also working with Workers Justice Project and Princeton University’s Workers’ Algorithm Observatory on a system that will let workers share trip and earnings information with regulators. The goal is to give the city an independent way to compare what workers see in the DoorDash app with what the company reports to government.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said workers should be paid “on time and in full.” DoorDash, for its part, said it has corrected technical problems that contributed to the payment issues and is adding stronger controls to prevent similar errors.

What this means for Utica and Upstate New York

The settlement applies to New York City and does not create a new statewide minimum-pay rate for DoorDash workers in Utica, Rome, Syracuse or other Upstate communities. The $22.13 hourly standard cited in this case is a New York City rule.

Still, the case is worth watching outside the five boroughs because it shows how regulators are examining app-based work records, automated pay calculations and the time workers spend waiting for assignments. Those issues are not limited to one company or one city, even though the legal requirements in this settlement are specific to New York City.

For delivery workers, the practical lesson is to keep records. Screenshots of app activity, pay statements, trip details and communications can help workers understand whether their pay matches the rules that apply where they work.

What DoorDash says

DoorDash said it accepts responsibility for payment errors but disputes the idea that the problems were intentional. The company said some errors affected complex delivery scenarios and that technical issues have been fixed.

That distinction matters. City officials described the violations as systematic and said enforcement was necessary to recover wages. DoorDash described the problems as mistakes rather than a deliberate effort to underpay workers. The settlement resolves the city’s enforcement action without requiring readers to choose between those competing descriptions of motive.

The agreement now shifts attention to implementation: getting payments to workers, correcting compensation systems and testing whether the new monitoring structure catches future problems faster.

Sources and worker information

Primary information for this report comes from the New York City Mayor’s Office, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, DoorDash’s public statement, Reuters and The Associated Press.

Workers who believe they are owed money under the settlement should watch for official communications from the city’s settlement administrator and use verified city resources before sharing personal or banking information.