Thursday, Jan. 15, marks the 15th day of Zohran Mamdani’s term as mayor. amNewYork is following Mamdani around his first 100 days in office as we closely track his progress on fulfilling campaign promises, appointing key leaders to government posts, and managing the city’s finances. Here’s a summary of what the mayor did today.
The Mamdani administration began a crackdown on app-based delivery companies on Thursday, filing a lawsuit against delivery platform Motoclick and its CEO, while warning dozens of other companies to comply with a sweeping set of worker protection laws set to take effect later this month.
The lawsuit, filed by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), accuses Motoclick of stealing pay and tips from delivery workers and failing to comply with New York City’s minimum pay requirements. The case names both the company and its chief executive, a move DCWP Commissioner Sameule Levine said reflects a tougher enforcement approach under the Mamdani administration.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the legal action during a press conference at the Deliveristas Unidos worker center in Brooklyn on Jan. 15, stating that the DCWP had received 20 complaints related to Motoclick’s practices. The mayor noted that investigations can often begin with a single complaint, framing the volume of reports against Motoclick as a sign of widespread abuse.
“For context, investigations can often be launched from simply one complaint,” Mamdani said. “This was 20 complaints for a single organization.”
amNewYork has reached out to Motoclick for comment.
Affordability: Mamdani takes aim at delivery worker pay
Mamdani said the lawsuit sends a clear signal to delivery app companies that the city intends to enforce worker protection laws aggressively.
“Companies such as this clearly believe that this is still the politics of the past,” he said. “They are wrong. The deliveristas of the city have the city on their side.”
Alongside the lawsuit, the administration has sent warning letters to 60 app-based delivery companies, notifying them that new Delivery Worker Laws will take effect Jan. 26 and that violations will be enforced. Mamdani said the city does not seek conflict with businesses but will act when companies profit by breaking the law.
“I want to be very clear, City Hall does not desire to have an adversarial relationship with any business operating in our city,” Mamdani said. “To those, however, who think they can make a profit while stealing from their workers while breaking the law, make no mistake, we will have those workers’ backs each and every time.”
DCWP CommissionerLevine said the Motoclick lawsuit reflects a more aggressive enforcement strategy, including holding individual executives accountable when appropriate. In this case, DCWP is suing Motoclick’s CEO, as well as the company itself.
“We are not only suing Motoclick, seeking full pay and damages to the workers,” Levine said. “We’re suing the company’s CEO.”
Levine said workers reported being charged penalties for canceled orders, being told they owed the company money, and being paid below the city’s minimum pay rate.
“No executive should be exploiting workers to line their own pockets,” Levine said.
Levine said the lawsuit is part of a broader enforcement blitz launched this week, which includes warning notices sent to delivery apps such as Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub, and Instacart. He said DCWP has also been in court defending tipping protection laws and fighting legal challenges from companies seeking to delay enforcement.
The enforcement push follows a DCWP report released earlier this week that found Uber and DoorDash manipulated their apps’ tipping interfaces by moving tip prompts to after checkout. According to the report, the average tip on those platforms dropped from $3.66 per delivery to 93 cents, costing workers more than $550 million collectively. By contrast, DCWP found that tips remained higher on apps that kept tipping options visible before checkout.
“The new law will require that these companies stop hiding the option to tip from consumers,” Levine said.
Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su framed the lawsuit as a warning to the entire app-based delivery industry.
“Today’s lawsuit against Motoclick is not just an action against one company,” Su said during the event. “You cannot treat workers like they are expendable and get away with it.”
Su added that companies that refuse to comply risk losing the ability to operate in the city.
“If you don’t play by New York City’s rules, you don’t get to play in New York City,” she said.
Levine acknowledged that lawsuits and investigations can take time and that workers may not receive stolen wages immediately. However, he said, naming executives strengthens the city’s ability to recover money and deter future violations.
“One way is because we name the CEO, that means that even if the company doesn’t have any money, we’re going to be able to get a judgment against the CEO and hopefully recover assets,” Levine said.
Levine said the administration’s broader goal is not constant litigation but compliance across the industry.
“I’d much rather live in a city where companies actually followed the laws that the city passed,” he said. “My goal is for companies to follow the law. If that takes filing a suit, we’re going to do it.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
