Amazon Must Pay Thousands of Flex Drivers an Average of $422 After Tips Were Withheld

come out today , the Federal Trade Commission will set out doing something Amazon failed to do for around 140,000 of its Flex delivery number one wood : give them their confidential information .

In aggregate , the FTCannouncedit will send near $ 60 million Charles Frederick Worth of withheld tips to driver as part of asettlementwith Amazon that was extend to in the first place this year . gadget driver will receive an average payout of $ 422 , with one driver coif to pick up more than $ 28,000 . Nearly 20,000 of the driver are expected to experience payments in excess of $ 600 . The funds themselves are coiffe to seem by way of 139,507 check mark and 1,621 PayPal payments , harmonise to the FTC .

The office first launch itsinvestigationinto Amazon ’s Flex practices in 2019 before register a lawsuitallegingthe fellowship had withhold $ 61.7 million in tips from driver between 2016 and 2019 . The FTC ’s suit claims Amazon turn down the hourly pace for its Flex drivers in late 2016 and used client baksheesh to make up the difference , all without reveal the changes to drivers . Amazon had guarantee its drivers they would receive 100 % of their tips which understandably did n’t happen .

Photo: Chip Somodevilla (Getty Images)

In its initialcomplaint , The FTC enjoin Amazon “ used X of millions of dollars in client backsheesh to subsidize its payments to driver , ” and “ continued to hive off driver ’ tips during this sentence despite one C of number one wood complaints about the practice session , critical medium paper , and internal realization that its conduct was a ‘ report tinderbox . ’ ”

In addition to relinquishing the $ 61.7 million in withhold bakshis , the FTC settlement prohibits Amazon from misrepresenting a machine driver ’s likely rate of earnings and requires transparence around how much of their crown they should expect to earn .

Of course , Amazon is n’t the only company guilty of shady tipping practices . Food delivery avail company DoorDash haspreviouslyused client tips to make up for shortfalls in the base salary it promised its number one wood . Instacart was also coerce tochangeits crest drill last year afterlawmakersquestioned the app ’s propensity for “ steer baiting . ” Uber , meanwhile , did n’t even offertippinguntil 2017 ( thoughaccording toone 2019 study , only around 16 % of Uber ride actually receive tips ) .

Jblclip5

Though lawmakers are fussy proposing hefty antitrustlegislationthat would , in theory , radically change the way big house are govern and audit in the US , the Amazon Flex settlement is a reminder of what ’s still possible using principle and regulations currently on the book .

Update 11/4/21 : In a program line sent to Gizmodo after publishing , an Amazon spokesperson pronounce :

While we differ that the historical agency we report pay to driver was unclear , we added additional clarity in 2019 and are pleased to put this thing behind us . Amazon Flex speech collaborator act an important character in serve customers every mean solar day , which is why they earn among the right in the diligence at over $ 25 per minute on average across the country .

Ugreentracker