Food delivery drivers in New York City won’t be getting an $18 an hour minimum wage next week as they had hoped.
A New York state judge on Friday stayed a rule that would require food ordering apps to pay delivery workers the new wage. The order comes one day after Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub sued to block the law from going into effect on July 12.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Moyne ruled that the wage measure cannot take effect before July 31 oral arguments on a temporary injunction. The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, named as a defendant in the lawsuits, has until July 24 to submit relevant documents.
The head of the consumer protection agency said she was “extremely disappointed” about the stay and hoped a ruling on the injunction would not take long.
“We look forward to a quick decision so that the dignified pay rate that workers deserve to earn is not delayed any more than necessary,” said Vilda Vera Mayuga, the city’s consumer and worker protection commissioner.
App companies currently pay drivers per delivery rather than per hour, but the city estimates that works out to about $7.09 an hour before tips. The new rule would mandate a minimum wage of $17.96 an hour for food delivery workers. The rule, announced last month, also would increase that minimum wage to nearly $20 an hour by 2025.
In their lawsuits filed on Thursday, Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub argued that the city used faulty data to calculate its new compensation, including the results of a delivery worker survey the companies claim had questionable methodology.
DoorDash lauded the judge’s decision Friday.
“We hope that this puts us on the path toward the city establishing a more reasonable earnings standard that reflects how these platforms are used by New Yorkers,” the company said in a statement.
