SEATTLE — Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS) says thousands of Amazon Flex drivers will soon receive payments after the agency and the company reached a nearly $3.8 million settlement tied to the city’s gig-worker protection laws.

Amazon Flex is a network company that contracts with drivers to deliver items across several Amazon business lines. The company has thousands of workers in Seattle and hundreds of thousands worldwide. Drivers use their own cars to deliver Amazon packages.

OLS had investigated Amazon Logistics, Inc. — also known as Amazon Flex — over allegations that the company didn’t provide required premium pay or paid sick and safe time (PSST) to many of its delivery workers. According to the agency, Amazon Flex only offered those benefits to drivers delivering groceries or food, not to those handling package deliveries from Amazon warehouses.

Amazon Flex denied the allegations but agreed to resolve the claims under three city ordinances for a total of $3,777,924.10. The settlement includes payments and PSST credits for 10,968 workers, plus $20,000 in fines to the City of Seattle. Workers can expect payments starting around January 1, 2026.

Mayor Bruce Harrell said gig workers played a crucial role during the pandemic and still make up an important part of the city’s workforce.

“These workers remain a valued part of our workforce today and deserve fair pay and protections,” he said, adding that the settlement shows Seattle’s commitment to holding companies accountable when they fall short of legal requirements.

OLS Director Steven Marchese said this case represents the second-largest settlement in the agency’s history. He noted that the protections were created quickly during a particularly difficult time and emphasized that gig workers continue to be essential to Seattle’s economy.

Working Washington Executive Director Danielle Alvarado said the settlement underscores the importance of worker organizing and enforcing labor protections. She said the resolution helps ensure money “gets put back in workers’ hands where it belongs.”

Background on the laws

The Gig Worker Premium Pay and Gig Worker PSST laws were temporary measures passed during the COVID-19 emergency to ensure gig workers received extra pay and had access to sick leave. Both expired when the mayor lifted the emergency order on October 31, 2022.

Under the Gig Worker Premium Pay Ordinance, OLS said that from August 27, 2021, to October 31, 2022, Amazon Flex failed to provide premium pay for Seattle-area deliveries that weren’t part of its food or grocery services.

The App-Based Worker PSST Ordinance, which took effect in May 2023, initially applied to Food Delivery Network Companies. As of January 13, 2024, it expanded to cover all app-based workers for network companies with more than 250 workers.

Under the Gig Worker PSST Ordinance and the App-Based Worker PSST Ordinance, the agency alleged that between January 31, 2021, and January 12, 2024, the company failed to offer an accessible system for workers to request and use PSST unless they were delivering for food/grocery business lines.

The company also failed to provide correct monthly PSST notifications for those same workers, OLS alleged.