Labor Regulators Just Issued A Complaint Against Postmates
Postmates
Postmates, the anything on-demand startup, has run afoul of labor regulators in Chicago.
On Thursday, the National Labor Relations Board's regional office in Chicago announced it had found "merit to the October 2015 charge filed against the on-demand food delivery service."
The board issued a complaint alleging Postmates violated its drivers' employment rights "by prohibiting them from discussing terms and conditions of employment, including safety, with other drivers."
The complaint also alleges Postmates violted the rights of its employees by requiring them to enter into arbitration agreements.
The San Francisco-based Postmates has raised more than $238 million in venture capital since it was founded in 2011. NLRB documents list the "number of workers at dispute location" as 10,000.
WeWork, an office space rental startup that helped popularize co-working, recently faced similar allegations from the NLRB over arbitration clauses. That company agreed to amend its employee handbook as part of a settlement filed in September.
If Postmates fails to reach a settlement with the employee who filed the initial charges with the NLRB, there will be a hearing in Chicago on January 26, 2017.
Postmates declined comment on the NLRB complaint citing company policy on "pending litigation or similar matters."