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The New York City Council overwhelmingly approved a set of bills on Thursday that boosts the rights of food delivery workers by requiring minimum pay, allowing workers to set maximum delivery distances and requiring restroom access.

Mayor de Blasio plans to sign all five of the bills into law, according to City Hall rep Bill Neidhart.

The legislative package includes new regulations to require employers to provide restroom access, pay workers at least once per week and provide insulated delivery bags to workers who have completed six or more deliveries for one company.

“Delivery workers have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, risking their livelihoods to singlehandedly keep New Yorkers fed and our restaurants afloat,” said Council Member Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), a leading proponent of the bathroom access bill. “We all know just how vital delivery workers are to our city’s survival.”


  The new regulations would require employers to pay workers at least once per week. Taidgh Barron/NY Post The new regulations would require employers to pay workers at least once per week. Taidgh Barron/NY Post

The city’s thousands of food couriers spend as much as 12 hours or more per day hauling pizzas and pad Thai around the Big Apple, typically by e-bike and often with the threat of violence.

Those grueling work conditions spurred some deliverymen and women to organize last year for stronger worker protections.

Another bill in the package would require food delivery apps like DoorDash or UberEats to disclose to customers what percentage of tips will go to workers, and the manner by which those gratuities will be provided.

A fifth bill would require the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to study the food delivery business, then come up with a standard minimum wage policy for industry workers.


  Mayor de Blasio plans to sign all five of the bills into law. Christopher Sadowski Mayor de Blasio plans to sign all five of the bills into law. Christopher Sadowski

Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) said council lawyers are confident the legislation will survive a legal challenge.

Grubhub, DoorDash and Uber Eats all sued New York City earlier this month to stop a new law that places a permanent cap on the amount of commissions third-party food delivery companies can charge restaurants.

“We feel like we’re on solid legal ground, we don’t think there’s any deficiency in what we’re passing today,” the speaker said. “It wouldn’t surprise if some of the large, at this point — probably multi-billion dollar, corporations that are making a lot of money in New York City try and stop this.”


  The city’s thousands of food couriers spend as much as 12 hours or more per day making deliveries. Christopher Sadowski The city’s thousands of food couriers spend as much as 12 hours or more per day making deliveries. Christopher Sadowski

“This is really groundbreaking, we’re the first city in the country to do this,” added Johnson, who said there were some 65,000 delivery workers in NYC.

At least one app-based delivery company is opting not to put up a fight: Grubhub, which also operates Seamless, called the new regulations “the right thing to do.”

“These bills are common sense steps to support the delivery workers who work hard every day for New York’s restaurants and residents,” the company said in a statement.

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