US judge orders DoorDash worker misclassification case reassigned to his court

U.S. District Judge William H. Alsup of San Francisco ordered a second case alleging misclassification of DoorDash workers, involving 3,997 workers, reassigned to his court, according to court documents filed Monday.

The second case, filed in federal court Nov. 20, seeks to compel the San Francisco-based DoorDash to pay filing fees to begin arbitration for "independent-contractor delivery providers" who previously filed arbitration demands against DoorDash with the American Arbitration Association. Boyd v. DoorDash, Inc., 19-CV07646 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 20, 2019). According to court documents, the arbitration association "terminated" the en masse claims "due to DoorDash's refusal to satisfy its filing fee obligations." The association caps fees for individuals at $300 per claim while companies must pay at least $1,900 per claim, according to its website, leaving DoorDash to pay a minimum $7.59 million in fees.

In his order, Alsup wrote he found the Boyd case to be related to Abernathy v. DoorDash, Inc., another suit filed in the Northern District of California seeking to compel DoorDash to begin arbitration for 2,236 delivery couriers, or "Dashers," according to court documents.

In both cases, the petitioners claim the food delivery service misclassified them as independent contractors rather than employees, which denies them such benefits as minimum wage earnings and unemployment insurance. Abernathy v. DoorDash, Inc., 19-CV07545 (N.D. Cal., filed Nov. 15, 2019).

-- Glenn Jeffers