DoorDash To Pay $11.25 Million To Illinois Drivers In Settlement

It makes sense, but maybe you were unaware that if you're someone who works a job that includes tipping, those tips are your property. If your employer decided to keep the tips that were meant for you, it's called "wage theft," under state and federal wage and hours laws.

That doesn't mean that tip-stealing by employers doesn't happen on a fairly regular basis, because it does. A quick Google search for the term "facts about stealing tips" will produce a whole bunch of stories and complaints about servers who have seen their tip money grabbed up by their boss or bosses.

Many times, tip theft goes unpunished...but not every time, as a settlement announcement from the Illinois Attorney General's Office has just proven.

Here's Why DoorDash Has Agreed To Pay Out $11.25 Million To Nearly 80,000 Illinois DoorDash Delivery Drivers, According To Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul

It all comes down to what DoorDash drivers were promised as guaranteed pay for their job.

According to the allegations brought forth by the Illinois AG's Office:

“DoorDash encouraged customers to tip as much as possible, indicating that all of their tip would go to workers,” Raoul said. “Instead, DoorDash used tips to reduce the amount the company paid workers. By putting tips toward driver pay, DoorDash could get away with contributing as little as $1 toward a worker’s pay and allow tips to make up the rest.

Instead of allowing drivers to keep their tips on top of whatever DoorDash would pay them, DoorDash implemented a scheme to use the customer tips toward a guaranteed pay that DoorDash promised delivery drivers. Under DoorDash’s payment scheme, customer tips rarely had an impact on a driver’s pay beyond reducing DoorDash’s contribution to their guaranteed pay.

In essence, it was tip-stealing.

DoorDash, While Admitting No Wrongdoing Or Guilt, Says That They Ended This Practice Five Years Ago...But Will Still Pay Up

That's the thing about so many of these settlements. Sure, we'll pay the money, but we're not about to admit that what we did was wrong.

Patch.com:

In a statement, company representatives emphasized the pay model in question changed more than five years ago.

"While we believe that our practices properly represented how Dashers were paid during this period, we are pleased to have resolved this years-old matter, and look forward to continuing to offer a flexible way for millions of people to reach their financial goals," it said.

According to Illinois AG Kwame Raoul, this settlement will simply make sure that tip money intended for delivery drivers goes where it's supposed to go, which is right into their pockets.