New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) filed a lawsuit in Manhattan state court against delivery app Motoclick in January, alleging the company routinely stole workers’ tips, violated city laws by not informing workers how much they will be paid before accepting an assignment and paid workers below the city’s $21.44 minimum wage for delivery drivers.
The suit also alleges that the three-year-old company illegally deducts fees from workers’ pay – $10 for canceled orders, for example – and retaliates against workers who contacted the company about the missing money by blocking them from logging into their accounts.
The suit asks the court to order that Motoclick repay lost earnings and pay damages to all the affected workers – or else be shut down in New York City. According to Crain’s New York Business, the suit is the first significant enforcement move that the city’s worker-protection agency has made under new Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has vowed to aggressively enforce city labor laws. The city is taking the unusual step of naming Motoclick’s founder and CEO, Juan Pablo Salinas Salek, as a defendant, in addition to the company.
“No executives should be exploiting workers to line their own pockets,” said DCWP Commissioner, Sam Levine. “The era of predatory companies … raking in billions off the backs of workers and consumers is over.”
DCWP began investigating Motoclick in 2024, under then-Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, after receiving 20 complaints from workers, Mamdani said.
Source: Crain’s New York Business
