Comments Received by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection - Proposed Rules related to Contracted Delivery Workers - Testimony December 2025

Sep 19, 2026

Testimony presented December 2025 to the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection addresses proposed rules governing contracted delivery workers. Daniel Ocampo of the National Employment Law Project urges extending the city’s minimum pay standard for third-party restaurant delivery workers to cover grocery delivery workers. The submission argues app-based restaurant and grocery delivery work are substantially similar in daily experience, workforce composition, and business model, so both worker groups should receive the same pay floor rather than being limited to on-trip pay and unpaid on-call time.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages284

Reading Time1 h 39 min

AccessFree to download

Testimony Overview

Support for Extending Minimum Pay Standard

Substantially Similar Work: Experience of the Work

Substantially Similar Work: Workforce

Substantially Similar Work: Business Model

Comments Received by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection on Proposed Rules related to Contracted Delivery Workers IMPORTANT: The information in this document is made available solely to inform the public about comments submitted to the agency during a rulemaking proceeding and is not intended to be used for any other purpose TESTIMONY| DECEMBER 2025 Testimony of Daniel Ocampo National Employment Law Project In Support of Extending Minimum Pay Standard to Grocery Delivery Workers Hearing before the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection New York, NY December 8, 2025 Daniel Ocampo Staff Attorney National Employment Law Project 90 Broad Street, Suite 1100 New York, NY 10004 [docampo@nelp.org](docampo@nelp.org) Testimony Before the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: My name is Daniel Ocampo, and I am a lawyer with the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a New York-based national nonprofit with more than fifty-five years of experience advocating for the labor and employment rights of low-wage workers. NELP works extensively at the federal, state and local levels, and regularly advocates for laws and regulations that protect workers in New York City. I write today in strong support of DCWP’s proposed rule to extend the city’s minimum pay standard for third-party restaurant delivery workers to include grocery delivery workers. App-based grocery delivery workers for companies like Instacart and Shipt do essential work in New York City. They should be entitled to the same minimum pay standard that applies to app-based restaurant delivery workers App-Based Restaurant and Grocery Delivery Work are Substantially Similar, and Workers Should All Be Entitled to the Same Pay Floor DCWP is entirely correct to apply its existing restaurant delivery worker pay standard to grocery delivery workers because app-based restaurant delivery work and app-based grocery delivery work are “substantially similar,” as city law requires.1 Like DoorDash and Uber, grocery delivery platforms like Instacart and Shipt direct the third-party delivery of food in New York City. While DoorDash and Uber Eats focus primarily (though not exclusively) on the delivery of restaurant meals, and Instacart focuses primarily on the delivery of groceries, that is the only real difference. All of these corporations use platforms to engage workers to transport food from commercial establishments across New York City to customers’ doors. These workers navigate the same city streets and face the same traffic, weather, and safety conditions. 1. The Experience of the Work is Substantially Similar From the workers’ perspective, the daily experience is nearly identical. Both sets of workers can log into the platform and make themselves available online to take delivery requests. While many workers are in theory free to log in whenever they choose, in practice, to make a living, workers must log in during certain peak times from prime locations—whether that’s near popular restaurants or large grocery stores. They must remain continuously attuned to the app for long periods, waiting in specific locations to fulfill orders quickly when requests come through. And the platforms’ algorithms appear to function the same way, determining differential pay rates according to undisclosed factors. Workers are expected to begin working immediately after accepting a trip request on the app, traveling to the pickup location, collecting the items (whether a prepared meal or groceries), and delivering them promptly to the customer. Like 1 New York City Local Law 2025/124, Section 1 (see discussion below; where conditions of work are “substantially similar,” the pay standards should be the same) . NELP | TESTIMONY ON DCWP GROCERY DELIVERY WORKER PAY RULE | DECEMBER 2025 2 restaurant delivery workers before the pay standard, Instacart and Shipt workers are paid only for their “on-trip” time, not for their

FAQs

Who submitted the testimony and on whose behalf?

Daniel Ocampo submitted the testimony as a staff attorney for the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

What rule change is being supported?

The testimony supports extending the city’s minimum pay standard for third-party restaurant delivery workers to include grocery delivery workers.

Why does the testimony argue grocery and restaurant delivery workers should share the same pay standard?

It claims app-based restaurant and grocery delivery work are substantially similar, including the workers’ daily experience, the workforce, and the companies’ business model.

Sep 19, 2026

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