Food delivery app to pay $186,000+ for labor law violations

The food delivery service HungryPanda has been fined more than $186,000 for violating the Seattle City labor laws, the Office of Labor Standards (OLS) announced Wednesday.

Specifically, the food delivery provider violated the city’s Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time (PSST) Ordinance and the Gig Worker Premium Pay Ordinance.

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The total financial remedy of $186,336.86 included $179,145.48 in back wages, interest, liquidated damages, and civil penalties to 148 gig workers and $7,191.38 in fines to the City of Seattle.

Hungry Panda is an app specializing in the delivery of Asian food.

The OSL alleges that HungryPanda:

• failed to provide PSST to workers;
• failed to provide workers with notification of PSST balance;
• failed to provide workers with the company’s PSST policy; and
• failed to provide workers with a notice of rights.

This is not the first labor law violation that the city has found this year, with Trader Joes being forced to pay $55,009.51 for violations of Seattle labor laws, when they did not properly pay employees hazard pay or overtime.

“This is the third settlement we announced this week with companies over alleged violations of gig workers’ rights under these ordinances. Overall, $1,094,974 was returned to 505 gig workers. The Gig Worker PSST and Premium Pay Ordinances provided important benefits for front-line workers during the pandemic,” said Steven Marchese, OLS Director.

HungryPanda has over 20 workers in Seattle and over 350 workers worldwide. The money is supposed to go to 148 gig workers who were impacted by the violations.