More than $46 million that Instacart agreed to pay as part of a settlement with the city of San Diego is ready to be distributed, the City Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
The 2022 settlement stems from a lawsuit the city filed four years ago, alleging that the grocery delivery company for five years improperly classified workers as independent contractors.
The city said the alleged misdeeds deprived workers of protections and compensation they would have received as employees, including overtime pay, paid breaks and reimbursement for expenses including gas mileage and cell phone use.
The $46.5 million settlement, reached last fall, was recently finalized.
Anyone who believes they are eligible for funds may check the City Attorney’s website or the California Shopper Settlement website.
Around 308,000 people who worked for Instacart between Sept. 13, 2015 and Dec. 15, 2020 are believed to be in line for restitution, the City Attorney’s Office said.
Individual payments will vary depending on the number of hours each person worked over that time period.
Fund administrator Simpluris is managing the distribution, and notices of restitution eligibility are being sent out.
City Attorney Mara Elliot said in a statement, “It’s gratifying to see hardworking Instacart shoppers receive the compensation they deserve. At the height of COVID-19, they provided a lifeline to California families.”
The lawsuit was described as the first of its kind against a “gig-economy company,” and was filed following a California Supreme Court decision. The ruling set a three-prong standard – known as the “ABC test” – for determining whether a worker was an employee or independent contractor.
Assembly Bill 5, introduced by former Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez and later signed into law, expanded the scope of the “ABC test,” and set standards that classified many app-based drivers as employees.
Last October, when the settlement was reached, Instacart said in a statement that its California workers were always properly classified as independent contractors and noted the settlement contains no admission of any wrongdoing.
– City News Service