New York City

Mamdani's $131.5 Million DoorDash Settlement Is Not What He Says It Is

The mayor characterized it as a victory against corporate greed. Meanwhile, 65 percent of affected drivers were underpaid by $1 or less, and the average underpayment was $7.70.

C. Jarrett Dieterle | 10.10.2026 7:00 AM

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Another day, another settlement. Last month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a $131.5 million settlement with DoorDash for "stealing" delivery driver wages in the Big Apple. The agreement builds on additional settlements from earlier this year with other platforms, all as part of Mamdani's "New Era of Accountability" for gig companies.

The actual details of the settlement tell a more modest story. While DoorDash did underpay a subset of workers, the average amounts at stake were relatively small. Instead, the lion's share of the settlement resulted from a dispute over how to precisely calculate driver wages—not from "stealing" wages—under NYC's minimum wage rule for gig work.

Mamdani may fashion himself as a roving gig-economy sheriff. But when it came to this settlement, the mayor mostly jumped in front of a parade that had already started. The fight dates back to 2023—long before Mamdani took office—when NYC first began investigating DoorDash for alleged underpayment of drivers under the city's........

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