Major Victory for NYC Delivery Workers: Landmark Protections Take Effect Today

January 26, 2026

DCWP Celebrates Expanded Minimum Pay Rate, Increased Tipping Protections, and More Pay Transparency for New York City’s 80,000 Delivery Workers

NEW YORK, NY – The New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) marks a workers justice milestone as key amendments to the City's Delivery Worker Laws go into full effect today, January 26, 2026.

The new laws strengthen rights for contracted grocery and food delivery workers. These include Local Law 113, which increases delivery worker pay transparency; Local Laws 123 and 124, which expand the minimum pay rate (MPR) to cover third-party grocery delivery workers, give timely and weekly payment rights to more contracted delivery workers, and improve bathroom access for contracted delivery workers; and Local Laws 107 and 108, which require restaurant and grocery apps to offer a tipping option at checkout. As a DCWP report revealed, DoorDash and Uber engineered design tricks in their interfaces that lowered workers’ tip earnings by $550 million. Those tricks are now illegal.

These reforms build on the City's pioneering 2023 minimum pay rate rule, which dramatically increased workers’ average hourly earnings without reducing deliveries. Today DCWP also announces a citywide inflation adjustment to worker pay under the framework established by Local Law 115 of 2021. The MPR will increase from $21.44 an hour to $22.13 an hour for both grocery and food delivery workers, a 3.2% increase that is set to take effect on April 1, 2026.

Key worker protection laws effective January 26, 2026 address:

Expanded minimum pay protections: Grocery delivery apps (including Instacart) must now pay workers at least $21.44 an hour (excluding tips) with annual increases, matching the rate for food delivery workers. In 2025, the City Council overrode Eric Adams’ initial veto of this legislation.
Timely payments and transparency: Apps must pay workers no later than seven calendar days after the end of a pay period and provide detailed, itemized written statements with compensation calculations.
Tipping fairness: Platforms must offer customers a clear tip option before or at checkout, including a suggested tip of at least 10% of the purchase price or a custom amount. This directly counters practices that hid or delayed tip prompts, which a recent DCWP report found cost workers over $550 million.

Today’s victory is buttressed by two recent federal court decisions. In 2025, DoorDash and Uber filed a federal lawsuit against DCWP challenging Local Laws 107 and 108 (tipping), while Instacart did the same to challenge Local Laws 123 and 124 (grocery delivery workers). On January 23, 2026, federal judges ruled decisively on the side of workers and denied the apps’ requests for a preliminary injunction in both cases.

These expanded Worker Protection Laws go into effect as the Mamdani Administration ramps up efforts to crack down on predatory delivery apps, reverse worker losses through aggressive enforcement of the Delivery Worker Laws, and hold companies and individuals accountable for ripping off the hardworking, majority immigrant deliveristas who keep New Yorkers fed. Earlier this month, Commissioner Levine announced a lawsuit against Motoclick and sent compliance warnings to over 60 companies including Instacart, DoorDash, Grubhub, Uber, and other app companies, warning them to adhere to the new laws.

The Minimum Pay Rate (MPR) for app-based delivery workers must be adjusted for inflation each year. The MPR will increase to $22.13 the first pay period on or after April 1, 2026. The $22.13 rate reflects a 3.2% adjustment for inflation between December 2024 and December 2025.

“Our administration has zero tolerance for corporate abuse, deceptive practices, or an economy that leaves working New Yorkers behind,” said Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani. “These laws move us closer to a city delivery workers can afford — a city where their labor is respected, their pay is fair and transparent, and they can earn tips without limitations. That’s what economic justice looks like in practice.”

"New York City refuses to let multi-billion-dollar corporations exploit hardworking deliveristas," said DCWP Commissioner Samuel A.A. Levine. "Since we began enforcing the minimum pay rate in 2023, workers have taken home an additional $1.2 billion in earnings. The laws that go into effect today build on that success by closing loopholes, ending design tricks that depressed tips by hundreds of millions, and guaranteeing grocery workers the same baseline pay as food delivery workers. This is what a worker-centered economy looks like."

The NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) is the nation’s leading municipal enforcement agency charged with delivering New Yorkers economic justice and an affordable city. DCWP leverages its authority to deliver real economic relief to New Yorkers and protect them from predatory, deceptive, and unfair practices that violate their consumer and workers’ rights. This includes pioneering cutting-edge protections, such as the City’s Consumer Protection Law, Protected Time Off Law, Fair Workweek Law, and Delivery Workers Laws, including the Minimum Pay Rate for delivery workers. While licensing more than 45,000 businesses in over 45 industries, we also ensure fair competition and a level playing field for responsible small businesses that are integral to New York City’s vibrant communities. DCWP also provides essential services, such as free tax preparation and financial counseling to ensure New Yorkers keep more of what they earn and can plan for their future. Across our mission, DCWP is committed to strengthening our communities and making New York City a fairer, more affordable place to live. For more information about DCWP and its work, call 311 or visit DCWP at nyc.gov/dcwp, sign up for its newsletter, or follow on its social media sites, X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Media Contact:
Milo Fink Gringlas
Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
(212) 436-4977
press@dcwp.nyc.gov