Amazon has agreed to pay more than $3.7 million to settle claims with the City of Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS) over allegations that it violated ordinances protecting gig and app-based workers during the pandemic.

OLS said in a news release Wednesday that Amazon only provided premium pay and paid sick and safe time (PSST) to workers when they performed deliveries for Amazon Flex’s food or grocery business lines — but not to workers who performed package deliveries from Amazon’s warehouses.

Amazon Flex uses independent contractors that drive their own vehicles to deliver items for Amazon business lines.

Amazon denied the allegations, but will pay $3,777,924.10, consisting of settlement payments and credits to 10,968 affected workers and $20,000 in fines to the City of Seattle.

The alleged violations cover three city ordinances: Gig Worker Premium Pay, Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time, and App-Based Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time.

OLS alleged that in violation of the Gig Worker Premium Pay ordinance, between Aug. 27, 2021, and Oct. 31, 2022, Amazon failed to provide premium pay to Amazon Flex gig workers for deliveries with a pick-up and/or drop-off in Seattle that were not for its food/grocery business lines.

OLS further alleged violations of the Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time and the App-Based Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time ordinances between Jan. 31, 2021, and Jan. 12, 2024. The agency said Amazon Flex failed to establish an accessible system for gig workers to request and use PSST for workers that were not delivering for its food/grocery business lines, and it failed to provide correct monthly PSST notification to workers that were not delivering food/grocery.

“Gig workers served on the frontlines throughout the pandemic, providing critical services like grocery and food delivery to our vulnerable neighbors and elders,” Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement. “These workers remain a valued part of our workforce today and deserve fair pay and protections.”

The Gig Worker Premium Pay and Gig Worker PSST ordinances were temporary ordinances enacted during the pandemic to allow gig workers access to extra pay and sick leave benefits. With the lifting of the mayor’s emergency order on Oct. 31, 2022, the two ordinances are no longer in effect.

The settlement with Amazon Flex is the second largest in OLS history, according to OLS Director Steven Marchese.

In August, Uber Eats agreed to pay $15 million to more than 16,000 delivery workers in Seattle over allegations that the tech giant violated laws regulating how workers are paid. A majority of that settlement was related to the city’s Independent Contractor Protections (ICP) Ordinance, which passed in 2021 and aims to ensure pay transparency. 

Affected Amazon Flex workers can expect settlement payments starting around Jan. 1, according to OLS.

Update: Amazon provided the following statement to GeekWire on Wednesday:

“The Puget Sound region is our home, and we’re proud to serve customers here while supporting the community through good job opportunities, support for local small businesses and organizations, and hundreds of millions in local investments. We’ve always complied with Seattle laws relating to providing paid sick and safe time to delivery partners — including when the City Council enacted emergency measures during the pandemic for food delivery app-based workers, and following the 2024 expansion of the rule to include all app-based workers. While we strongly disagree with OLS on the facts of this matter, we’re pleased to put it behind us and remain focused on continuing to improve the experience for our customers and the drivers who deliver to them.”

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