Research Update: Examining the App-Based Workers Minimum Pay Ordinance

Report written by research assistant Anita Zeng

The Harry Bridges Center Research Team would like to thank the Seattle Office of Labor Standards, especially Policy Analyst and affiliated faculty with Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies Dr. Shuxuan Zhou, for providing opportunities for collaboration. 

The research team at the Harry Bridges Center often works towards building relationships with others in the labor movement. As a Research Assistant at the Bridges Center, I collaborated with the Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) from August to December 2023 on a project related to the App-Based Workers Minimum Pay Ordinance. This was an exciting opportunity to interact and work with city policy implementation.

What is OLS?

The City of Seattle OLS is an agency within the city government that advocates for the rights of all workers through policy development, labor standards investigation and enforcement, and community outreach and education. Since its founding in 2015, OLS has implemented approximately twenty ordinances, including paid sick and safe time, minimum wage, and wage theft prevention. OLS helped 26,583 workers receive over $7 million in back pay in 2022.^[1] In August of 2023, OLS also settled with DoorDash for 1.6 million dollars^[2] for violating the Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance.

One of the most active and fastest-growing local labor standards agencies, OLS became a standalone office in 2017 after originating as a division in the Seattle Office of Civil Rights. Cities such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco have similar agencies dedicated to protecting and enforcing workers’ rights, but the practice of having a labor standards office is not widespread. Despite this, a growing number of localities are putting effort into protecting workers, including progressive cities in conservative states such as Durham and Houston, who have both created worker boards. Local labor standards offices, worker boards, and the creation of new and necessary rights for workers through legislation are all ways that local governments advance worker rights.^[3]

OLS and other offices, agencies, and divisions like it play an important role in the labor movement. They propose policy that protects less visible groups of workers while also having the authority to enforce those rights. The Harry Bridges Center is proud to support OLS in its efforts to protect workers’ rights.

App-based workers

In 2022 and 2023, the City of Seattle passed several ordinances related to the working conditions of app-based workers. This included the App-Based Workers Minimum Pay Ordinance, passed in May 2022. The ordinance establishes a minimum wage based on the time and mileage associated with orders through app-based companies in Seattle, including DoorDash, GrubHub, and Rover. App-based gig workers are usually classified as independent contractors, and according to studies from UC Berkeley,^[4] Cornell,^[5] and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry,^[6] make less than the minimum wage when factoring in job-related expenses such as gas, car insurance, and licensing fees.

One section of the ordinance establishes the authority of OLS to request aggregated and disaggregated data from the companies overseeing the apps that contract workers to increase transparency. I collaborated with a policy analyst at OLS who was in charge of drafting such data requests, and then we shared the draft for stakeholders’ and public feedback. Although a previous ordinance, the Transportation Network Company Minimum Compensation ordinance had authorized a similar data request, the size and scope of app-based companies in Seattle introduced unique challenges that required a new lens. We identified specific data points we were interested in – number of workers, hours worked, worker earnings, offer cancellations – and brainstormed for the most appropriate formats to request the data in.

To balance a preference for disaggregated data with limited data storage and analysis capacities, we also outlined a request for more disaggregated data recordkeeping on the part of app-based companies. This way, OLS can perform sample data checks to verify the aggregated data summaries that companies send. The data request is intended to support wider transparency regarding the size, hours, and pay of the growing app-based gig worker industry in Seattle.

However, after the ordinance went into effect on January 13th, 2024, some of the biggest app companies in Seattle, including DoorDash and UberEats, quickly responded by raising consumer fees,^[7] including a five-dollar Seattle-specific fee, claiming the fees were now a necessary cost of doing business in the city.^[8] Despite the ordinance being active for a short period, Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson expressed her intent to amend the ordinance. The amendments include reducing the minimum pay, reducing transparency requirements, removing reasons a worker can cancel an offer with cause, and amending the records OLS can request. These amendments were approved by the Governance, Accountability & Economic Development committee on May 9th; a date for a full city council vote has not yet been set as of June XX, 2024.

In collaboration with the UW School of Information, the Fair Work Center, and Working Washington, the Bridges Center applied research team launched three surveys targeted towards app-based workers, consumers, and businesses to better understand the App-Based Worker Minimum Pay Ordinance’s effect on these stakeholders. This work is ongoing and separate from the previous project with OLS. While we are not actively collaborating with the OLS on this study, the work I did in the fall of 2023 expanded our understanding of the Ordinance’s intentions. 

Next steps:

The legislation the City of Seattle Council has created for app-based workers, domestic workers, and more shows that Seattle can be a leader in worker rights.  Despite the uncertain future of the App-Based Workers Minimum Pay ordinance, I hope that our efforts will contribute to enforcing the rights of workers in Seattle, especially for those workers who have historically lacked the protections afforded to others. An inclusive and powerful labor movement necessitates that all workers, including those on the periphery, have access to a living wage, safe working conditions, and other essential rights. Until then, we must be willing to stand up and take action to achieve those goals.