- DoorDash to Pay $16.75M Over Stolen Tips from Delivery Drivers
- Meta Faces Lawsuit Over Hiring Practices
- Apple to Add 20,000 Workers as Part of $500B Investment
- Buyouts and Layoffs Announced at United Healthcare, Starbucks
- House Bill Seeks to Lower Dental, Vision Care Costs
DoorDash to Pay $16.75M Over Stolen Tips from Delivery Drivers
New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Monday, Feb. 24, a $16.75 million settlement with DoorDash, with the delivery platform paying up for misleading both consumers and delivery workers (known as “Dashers”) by using tips intended for Dashers to subsidize their guaranteed pay.
Between May 2017 and September 2019, DoorDash used a guaranteed pay model that let Dashers see how much they would be paid before accepting a delivery. An Office of the Attorney General (OAG) investigation found that under this model, DoorDash used customer tips to offset the base pay it had already guaranteed to workers, instead of giving workers the full tips they rightfully earned.
According to James, customers were misled into believing their tips would directly benefit Dashers. Instead, DoorDash would keep the tips meant for Dashers and take it out of their guaranteed pay. DoorDash would guarantee pay to a delivery worker, and then only actually pay them whatever the tip did not cover.
Any worker who delivered for DoorDash between May 2017 and September 2019 in New York state may be eligible to file a claim. Payments are expected to begin in early 2025.
Meta Faces Lawsuit Over Hiring Practices
A California federal judge ruled on Tuesday, Feb. 25, that Meta Platforms, Inc. must face a lawsuit claiming the company prefers to hire foreign workers because it can pay them less than U.S. workers.
According to a Reuters report, U.S. magistrate judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco said the three plaintiffs — information technology worker Purushothaman Rajaram, software engineer Ekta Bhatia and data scientist Qun Wang — may pursue the class-action lawsuit.
The three plaintiffs, all of whom are U.S. citizens, said they each applied for several Meta jobs between 2020 and 2024, but were turned down because of Meta’s “systematic preference” for visa holders.
In a statement, Meta said the allegations were baseless and it would continue to vigorously defend itself against them. But the judge cited statistics that 15% of Meta’s U.S. workforce holds H-1B visas, which typically go to foreign professionals, compared with 0.5% of the overall workforce.
Apple to Add 20,000 Workers as Part of $500B Investment
Apple Inc. announced on Monday, Feb. 24, it plans to hire around 20,000 people over the next four years. Most of the positions will be focused on research and development, silicon engineering, software development, and artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Apple also said it plans to spend $500 billion domestically over the next four years, which will include work on a new server manufacturing facility in Houston, a supplier academy in Michigan and additional spending with its existing suppliers in the country. Apple will also expand data center capacity in Arizona, Oregon, Iowa, Nevada and North Carolina.
The tech company said it supports more than 2.9 million jobs across the country through direct employment, work with U.S.-based suppliers and manufacturers, and developer jobs.
Buyouts and Layoffs Announced at United Healthcare, Starbucks
As reported by CNBC, United Healthcare is offering certain employees in its benefits operations unit the option to accept buyouts if they quit by March 3.
If the organization does not meet a resignation quota through buyouts, it will lay off employees, people familiar with the matter told CNBC, citing an internal resource site.
An internal memo viewed by CNBC stated employees eligible for the buyouts include full-time or part-time U.S. workers assigned to four internal segments under benefits operations, including corporate, consumer operations, core services and provider services.
The organization expects employees’ termination date to be no sooner than May 1, according to the memo. The memo said some employees who accept buyouts may need to work beyond that date, but the company does not expect to require them to work past Nov. 13.
As of December 2023, United Healthcare (UHC) employs more than 440,000 employees.
Additionally, Starbucks announced it was cutting around 1,100 corporate jobs. The company added it would be eliminating “several hundred” open and unfilled positions, as well as requiring those who are at vice president levels or higher to come into its Seattle or Toronto offices at least three times a week.
“We are simplifying our structure, removing layers and duplication, and creating smaller, more nimble teams,” Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol wrote in the announcement. “Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration — all with the goal of being more focused and able to drive greater impact on our priorities.”
House Bill Seeks to Lower Dental, Vision Care Costs
U.S. House of Representatives members Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-Georgia) and Yvette Clarke (D-New York) on Tuesday, Feb. 25, introduced the bipartisan Dental and Optometric Care Access (DOC Access) Act to help lower dental and vision care costs and “put control of important healthcare decisions back into the hands of patients and their doctors.”
The legislation addresses the increased consolidation and vertical integration among dental and vision insurance providers, which is leading to higher prices, fewer options for patients and providers, and diminished community access to needed care.
According to the bill’s authors, “Both the dental and vision insurance markets are highly concentrated and increasingly vertically integrated. With one or two plans dominating most markets in which they operate, vision and dental insurers force doctors to sign agreements which include costly and controlling provisions, on the threat of being otherwise relegated to out-of-network status for their own communities. These agreements often set prices on goods and services, even those not covered by the plan, and require patients and doctors to patronize other subsidiary businesses, including optical laboratories owned by vision plans. Similar to laws passed in nearly every state, the DOC Access Act seeks to apply safeguards to federal regulated plans in an effort to help states progress toward lower costs, greater transparency, and better options for patients and providers.”
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