Doordash’s agreement to pay no more than $663,520 to settle allegations that it failed to pay drivers minimum wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act was approved by a federal judge.
Jacob McGrath had sued Doordash, saying he and others were misclassified as independent contractors. The US District Court for the Northern District of California granted Doordash’s motion to enforce individual arbitration agreements against the drivers. McGrath has since been replaced by Derrick Salmons as lead plaintiff. The settlement agreement limits eligible claimants to Doordash drivers between August 23, 2016 and August 31, 2023 who aren’t bound by an arbitration agreement or have not already released all FLSA claims.
- “The Settlement Agreement is adequate, fair, and reasonable,” said Judge Edward M. Chen on Monday
- There were “significant issues relating to Proposition 22"— which exempted companies like Uber and Lyft from a state law that would’ve required them to classify most of their drivers as workers—that could’ve cause Salmons’ claims to fail as a matter of law, according to the plaintiffs’ unopposed motion for approval
- The settlement is not meant to be construed as admission of “any liability, claim, or wrongdoing whatsoever,” the court said
Shellist Lazarz Slobin LLP and Wage and Hour Firm represent the drivers. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP represents Doordash.
The case is McGrath v. Doordash Inc, Salmons v. Doordash Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 3:19-cv-05279, 5/13/24.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Learn more about Bloomberg Law or Log In to keep reading:
See Breaking News in Context
Bloomberg Law provides trusted coverage of current events enhanced with legal analysis.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools and resources.