Issue: Whether DoorDash unlawfully failed to pay drivers the minimum wage and willfully misclassified them as independent contractors.
Summary: NELP authored this brief on behalf of Legal Aid at Work and Worksafe. The brief describes the activities employers like DoorDash undertake to mislead their drivers, encouraging them to sign onto a letter to state legislators against the recent Dynamex decision.
The DoorDash email warned drivers that a “recent court decision” threatened their “freedom and flexibility” but did not mention the rights drivers stood to gain under the decision or give the name of the case so drivers could do further research. NELP’s brief identifies this email as part of a growing trend of political coercion in the workplace in which employers require or encourage employees to take political action through appeals that affect workers’ livelihoods (e.g. wages, plant closure, changes to hours).
This problem has been exacerbated by Citizens United and new technology that allows employers to track employee engagement with emails like the one sent by DoorDash. Political coercion threatens workers’ right to engage in political activity of their choice and by extension the integrity of the democratic process.