SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco District Attorney requested DoorDash to stop an “unlawful misclassification” immediately, by classifying its drivers as employees instead of as independent contractors on Thursday August 13.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced they filed a motion for preliminary injunction requesting DoorDash, food delivery and take out service, to immediately stop continuing to break the law by classifying its workers as independent contractors, not as employees. DoorDash’s current system is “failing to provide delivery workers with basic workplace protections,” said San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. The allegation is part of the District Attorney’s lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court against DoorDash on June 16, 2020, said SFDA.

DoorDash’s Misclassifying has caused serious negative consequences, said SFDA; “independent contractors have no statutory right to minimum wage, overtime, paid sick leave, reimbursement for business expenses, compensation for injuries sustained on the job, protection against discrimination, or access to disability or unemployment insurance.” It also harms law-abiding businesses, forcing them to compete unequally, and harms the public welfare by taking the state of taxes which are used to fund income support programs including unemployment insurance. According to California’s Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, misclassification in California businesses results in about $7 billion loss for the state per year in payroll tax revenue.

DoorDash has said it has been providing thousands of drivers called Dashers of the opportunities to gain extra incomes flexible hours without making a labor commitment, through its gig work model, which means the drivers work only when there is specific need, and there is a certain period of time for labor contract. “In the midst of one of the deepest economic recessions in our nation’s history, today’s action … threatens billions of dollars in earnings for California Dashers and revenue for restaurants that rely upon sales from delivery to keep their businesses open”, DoorDash said in the statement.

The filing follows ruling by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan P. Schulman made on August 10. He required Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as employees in a case brought by the California Attorney General along with the city attorneys of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, said SFDA.