More than half of NYC delivery workers hurt on the job, CUNY survey finds

More than half of the app delivery workers surveyed in New York City this spring said they had been hurt on the job. The finding comes from a new report by the Workers Justice Project and a research team at CUNY’s public health school.

The researchers polled 561 delivery workers from March through May. The injury rate they found is more than five times the national figure for delivery messengers. Four in 10 of the workers who responded met the criteria for severe psychological distress. An estimated 70,000 people deliver for the apps across the city, and most are immigrants.

Why NYC delivery workers fear deactivation

Deactivation is the focus of the report. The term describes a company locking a worker out of their account, which amounts to firing them. Among respondents, 52% said they fear losing their account if they don’t work fast enough. When asked about their needs, workers put protection from deactivation at the top of the list, ahead of more working hours, protection from crime and pay transparency.

According to the researchers, the platforms pressure riders to complete deliveries as fast as possible. In practice that encourages unsafe speeds, which endangers the riders themselves along with pedestrians and other cyclists. The ever-present risk of losing work also contributed to anxiety and depression, the authors concluded.

Mustafa Hussein, who teaches health policy and economics at the CUNY school and was among the study’s lead authors, said the apps’ algorithms govern much of the job. When workers fall short, he said, companies turn to deactivation as a “punitive tool.” He linked that threat to workers’ mental health, their injuries and risk-taking, and the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

What DoorDash and Uber say about account deactivations

Companies in the industry have long maintained that deactivations are uncommon and used only when other options run out. According to DoorDash, workers may appeal. A spokesperson said the company saves the step for serious or repeated breaches of its policies, and signs that a worker submitted a fake ID or tax number are treated as red flags. DoorDash offers free occupational accident insurance, but workers have said they struggled to get relief through it.

Uber says it cuts off only accounts it considers fraudulent, pointing to cases like a fake ID or one account used by more than one person, as well as accounts tied to other unsafe behavior. Spokesperson Josh Gold said deactivations are rare and that Uber aims to keep the process transparent and fair, including by having every appeal “reviewed by a real person.”