Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of the Northern District Court of California ruled in favor of arbitration in a dispute between Postmates and Postmates Fleet Drivers. The judge dismissed Postmates` requests to decide whether the plaintiffs would attempt to arbitrate on the basis of a class action lawsuit in violation of the arbitration agreement and dismissed their request to stay the appeal. The on-demand economy provides flexible delivery workstations for on-demand workers and makes life easier for customers. Ordering food smells good in your car and you might be tempted to take a bite. However, you should never open food containers or handle the customer`s order. The fleet agreement you signed states that the Postmates website allows customers to arrange deliveries to local businesses. From March 2017, potential couriers who wanted to offer their delivery services received the postmate fleet agreement when they first registered. The agreement requires a potential courier to review a mutual arbitration provision that applies to “all claims between [p]arties,” including claims related to the classification of a courier as an independent contractor, delivery charges received from a courier service, and state and local compensation and time laws. It contains a “waiver of the representative action”. There is an exclusion provision: “Arbitration is not a mandatory condition of [the courier`s] contractual relationship with Postmates.” The applicants acknowledged the fleet agreement and Postmates did not receive any unsubscribe forms for any of them. In December 2017, the plaintiffs filed an alleged class and representative action for alleged violations of the Labour Code. The trial court rejected Postmates` request to enforce arbitration on civil penalty claims under the Private Attorney General Act, citing the California Supreme Court`s 2017 “Iskanian,” which found that the class action waiver was unenforceable. The Court of Appeals upheld this and rejected postmates` arguments that Iskanian had been overthrown by subsequent U.S.
Supreme Court decisions. Iskanian specifically noted that the Federal Arbitration Act does not prejudge the state law on the applicability of PAGA waivers. You have logged in to Postmates and downloaded the Fleet app. The next step before you start making money is to accept the fleet agreement. The fleet agreement governs the relationship between the deliverers and the Postmates. As an independent contractor, you must always ensure that you provide services under this Agreement. Postmates is represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. The applicants in this case are 5,257 separate Postmate delivery workers, mainly represented by Keller Lenkner. According to the agreement reached by the drivers, they are considered independent contractors rather than employees; These drivers claim that this is a miscalculation. The Postmates fleet agreement signed by the drivers also includes a mutual arbitration provision. “The net effect of these waivers is that any courier with a legal claim against Postmates is limited to filing a request for individual arbitration with the appointed arbitrator, the American Arbitration Association,” the order reads. Postmates lists the reasons for the deactivation in the fleet agreement, which describes “incidents that constitute a material breach” of the agreement.
Unlike other gig apps like Uber and DoorDash, which publish clearly labeled opt-out policies, Postmates allows you to dig into legal language to determine what you should avoid. Postmates sends an email and app notification informing you that you have been disabled. Emails are usually vague and simply say something like, “Your account has been disabled due to the violation of our terms. They will no longer be able to use the Postmates Fleet app. It`s an abrupt way to spread news that doesn`t mention a way to reactivate. The only way to find out why you`ve been disabled is to contact fleet support at support.postmates.com/fleet or call 888-815-7726. Ask them if they can provide details about the reason for your deactivation. Often, support agents can`t give more details about your deactivation – or don`t want to, so expect to encounter resistance. You may need to be persistent and inform Postmates several times before you can get an answer. For more information, see Section 12b of the Fleet Agreement.
In the case of couriers, it is important to ensure a valid identity for each courier on the platform in order to deal with cases of violation of fleet agreements and protect customers and business partners. Postmates argued that the court should decide whether the applicants are trying to “harass the whole class”. The court disagreed with Postmates` interpretation of their agreement, but even if Postmates was right, the judge said the mutual arbitration clause means that such a dispute would be reserved for the arbitrator. Postmates refused to pay the fee, saying the claims were inadequate and generic. “Postmates argued that by filing so-called `general` arbitration actions with the arbitrator, the plaintiffs are attempting to initiate de facto class arbitration in violation of the class action waiver,” the order states. Postmates also argued that the costs constituted “irreparable damage”, which was rejected. “It is gullible for Postmates to argue that the amount of registration fees due constitutes irreparable harm if that `harm` is entirely caused by itself. A driver who violates the Postmates Code of Conduct may be excluded from the temporary or permanent use of Postmates.
This decision is based in part on the gravity of the infringement. The best advice I can give you is to avoid blocking your Postmates email account. Your task – in addition to doing your job! – is to give them no reason to show you the door. The policies and rules are in place for a reason, so you do the right thing. Disclaimer: Justia Annotations is a forum for lawyers to summarize, comment and analyze the case law published on our website. Justia makes no warranty or representation that the comments will be accurate or reflect the current legal status, and no comments are intended to be legal advice and should not be construed as legal advice. Contacting Justia or a lawyer through this website, via a web form, email or otherwise does not create a relationship between the lawyer and the client. The on-demand delivery app can respond to a complaint it has received by disabling your driver account. .