I want to let you know about a significant win in our fight to protect workers’ rights. This past week, we announced a $5.25 million settlement with Instacart, following an investigation by San Francisco’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) and our City Attorney’s Office into the company’s practices regarding health care and paid sick leave benefits.
After widespread reports of app-based tech companies misclassifying workers, this investigation was initiated into Instacart’s compliance with our City’s Health Care Security Ordinance and Paid Sick Leave Ordinance.The settlement will be paid to several thousand Instacart workers who have shopped for and delivered groceries.
Many of them were working during the height of the pandemic, before vaccines became available, risking COVID-19 exposure in order to deliver food and other essential items to our communities. For those workers who placed themselves on the frontlines, we must ensure that they were treated fairly.They earned their benefits, and it’s time they get what they are owed.
This settlement comes on the heels of a similar settlement with Doordash; together, they are the two largest settlements in the twenty-year history of the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.My office is committed to sending a strong message that we will aggressively protect workers’ rights and enforce compliance with labor laws.
I am thankful for the hard work of OLSE staff and the attorneys in my office, without whom this would not have been possible. And I am thankful to each of you, for your ongoing support in our fight to ensure all workers are paid fairly and treated with dignity.