DoorDash Class Action Says Drivers Owed Tips

A DoorDash class action alleges that drivers for the delivery service don’t receive full tips from consumers who pay through the app, according to a employement lawsuit filed in California.

Plaintiffs Jennifer Peter and Karson Theiss claim that they were misled about the nature of their tips when making purchases from DoorDash.

When a consumer makes a purchase from DoorDash, their delivery driver is reportedly guaranteed a minimum payment. Although consumers are able to leave tips for their drivers, the workers allegedly do not receive these tips on top of their minimum payment. Instead, DoorDash allegedly uses these tips to subsidize their own payments to drivers.

For example, if a driver is guaranteed a minimum payment of $7 and the consumer leaves no tip, DoorDash reportedly uses their own money to pay the driver. However, if the consumer were to leave a $3 tip, this amount would allegedly be used by DoorDash to pay the minimum payment. In this situation, DoorDash would reportedly use the $3 tip and $4 of their own money to pay the driver their guaranteed payment.

“The result is that the Dasher receives no additional compensation by the consumer leaving a tip through DoorDash’s website or app, and the consumer is deceived into leaving a tip that merely reduces the amount that DoorDash has to pay the Dasher to meet the guaranteed minimum payment,” the DoorDash class action lawsuit states.

According to Peter and Theiss’ DoorDash class action, they were not aware that DoorDash would essentially be stealing their tips. They were reportedly led to believe that their tips would be given directly to the driver on top of a minimum guaranteed payment.

DoorDash allegedly fails to inform consumers of their tip policy on their website. Instead, customers are allegedly given an option to add a “Dasher Tip” with no other information about how their tip will be used. According to the DoorDash class action, reasonable consumers assume that their tips will be given to the drivers.

Even if consumers were to go through the extra effort to hunt down information about DoorDash’s tip policy, the website allegedly lacks clear information.

The DoorDash class action claims that “nothing” on the website section informs customers that “their tips are being used by DoorDash to subsidize the Dasher’s guaranteed minimum payment and in most cases provide no financial benefit to the Dasher.”

Peter and Theiss seek to represent a Class of consumers who placed a food delivery order through DoorDash and paid a tip through the website or app. The plaintiffs also seek to represent two subclasses of the same consumers from Missouri or Illinois, respectively.

DoorDash Inc. faces similar allegations in another class action lawsuit filed in Georgia. The plaintiffs in this DoorDash class action also claim that drivers for the delivery company do not receive 100 percent of their tips. Unlike Peter and Theiss, the plaintiffs in this case were drivers and brought claims based on their employment.

Did you leave a tip after placing an order through DoorDash? Share your experiences in the comment section below.

Plaintiffs and the proposed Class are represented by Mike Arias, Elise R. Sanguinetti, and Alfredo Torrijos of Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Torrijos LLP and by Richard S. Cornfeld and Daniel Scott Levy of the Law Office of Richard S. Cornfeld LLC.

The DoorDash Class Action Lawsuit is Peter, et al. v. DoorDash Inc., Case No. 3:19-cv-06098-TSH, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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