New laws expanding protections for food and grocery delivery workers and couriers took effect last week in New York City.  The package of laws applies to workers hired or otherwise engaged by third party delivery services to deliver goods such as food, beverages, groceries or papers, and build upon existing protections for such workers, including minimum pay requirements for food delivery workers, enacted in 2023. 

Key expansions include:

• Local Law 113 requires compensation and gratuities be paid no later than 7 calendar days after each pay period ends and makes it unlawful for a delivery service to fail to distribute any portion of a gratuity to delivery workers.  It also requires delivery services to provide delivery workers with written compensation statements itemizing payments, gratuities, and any deductions or allowances taken.
• Local Law 123 broadens delivery workers rights around accepting offers and assignments and mandates access to toilet facilities.  It also provides definitions of key terms and expands subpoena and enforcement powers under the laws.
• Local Law 124 expands existing food delivery worker minimum pay rate requirements to grocery delivery workers.
• Local Law 107 and Local Law 108 mandate that clear gratuity options be offered to customers through third-party food and grocery delivery platforms.

Following the initial enactment of the new laws, several food and grocery delivery service companies brought legal challenges seeking to enjoin the laws from becoming effective.  Earlier this month, federal courts denied the parties’ requests for preliminary injunction, allowing the laws to now take effect. As with the existing delivery worker requirements, the new laws will be enforced by the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP).  In its previous iteration as the Department of Consumer Affairs, the agency focused primarily on consumer protections.  Following the DCA’s implementation of the NYC Earned Safe and Sick Time Act in 2016 and the agency’s rebranding in 2019, the DCWP has taken a much more active role in the area of employee and workforce protections, targeting its focus more squarely in the area of worker rights.