Background
“Gig work,” or work performed by independent contractors, such as on-demand food delivery, pet sitting, or grocery shopping, is one of the fastest growing job sectors. fast in our economy. This work has proven invaluable to many and it is important to protect the flexibility that on-demand work offers. However, we must ensure that their workers are paid properly.
Many construction workers are underpaid and sometimes, after factoring in expenses such as mileage, vehicle maintenance, and other business expenses, workers can even lose money at a gig. . It is high time these workers received Seattle minimum wage plus compensation for business expenses, including work-related miles.
Gig businesses see unprecedented growth and billions in revenue:
Payment Policy Package
The PayUp Policy Package is a group of bills being drafted and introduced by Council members Lisa Herbold and Andrew Lewis that aim to address the many issues faced by gig workers. The content below will show you the details of each proposal as the bills are introduced. More information will be added to this section as the bills progress.
Invoice #1
Minimum payment / Transparency / Flexibility
Minimum payment
Provide or ensure payment of minimum wage plus expenses with a floor per minute and per mile for committed time required to perform each offer. 
Transparency
Provide workers with the information needed to make informed choices about which offers to accept and to verify compliance with minimum wage requirements.
Provide clients with information on the nature of charges, including amounts paid to workers and withheld by the company.
Provide OLS with regular and routine access to aggregated and disaggregated company records.
Flexibility
Protect worker flexibility, including the right to freely choose jobs and schedules, while maintaining companies’ service delivery to customers and third-party companies.
Invoice #2
Access to toilets
Invoice #3
Anti discrimination
Invoice #4
Background check
Invoice #5
Deactivation
Invoice #6
Advisory Board
Chronology
The Council has been meeting with a large group of stakeholders for almost a year, starting in June 2021. By April 2022, there had been 12 such large stakeholder meetings. Stakeholders have included a wide range of companies that may be affected, such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, Rover Instacart and others; independent contractors who work for these companies; Board members and others.
Large stakeholder meetings
- June 9, 2021 – Introduction and general overview of the policy proposal
- June 15, 2021 – Discussion on the coverage of the policy proposal
- June 22, 2021 – Discussion on salary structure
- June 29, 2021 – Discussion on transparency and flexibility
- July 6, 2021 – Disabling Discussion
- July 13, 2021 – Discussion of background checks
- July 20, 2021 – Discussion on access to the toilets
- July 27, 2021 – Discussion on anti-discrimination and reasonable accommodation
- August 3, 2021 – Application discussion
- August 10, 2021 – Advisory Board Discussion
The Board suspended stakeholder meetings during the Board’s budget process. The Office of Labor Standards conducted a review and proposed changes to the first bill, which include minimum payment, transparency, and flexibility. In addition, the stakeholders continued to meet with each other.
- January 25, 2022 – New Shared Bill
- February 1, 2022 – Discussed changes included in shared drafts at 01/25/22 meeting
Additional stakeholder meetings continue to take place separately with subgroups, including market-based companies and on-demand delivery companies, to address their unique concerns.
Committee meetings
- July 13, 2021
- September 14, 2021
- February 8, 2022
FAQs
Media coverage
