Taipei: A delivery worker alliance and labor union have filed criminal complaints against Uber Technologies Inc. and Uber Eats Taiwan executives, accusing them of underpaying workers handling multiple deliveries under Taiwan's new delivery worker protection law.
According to Focus Taiwan, the complaints were filed Monday with the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, targeting Uber Technologies CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber Eats Taiwan Chairperson Michelle Georgette Parker, the platform's Taiwan general manager, and several local corporate representatives. An alliance advocating for Taiwan food delivery industry rights, along with the National Delivery Industry Union, accused Uber Eats of knowingly adopting an unlawful payment formula for "stacked orders," where a courier delivers two or more orders in a single trip.
The groups alleged that the company has been underpaying couriers while leading them to believe they were being compensated in line with the Delivery Workers' Rights Protection and Delivery Platform Management Act, which Uber Eats had pledged to comply with. Alliance spokesperson Su Po-hao, himself a delivery worker affected by the policy, stated that Uber Eats knowingly failed to pay the legally required minimum compensation despite being aware of the new regulations, effective since July 21.
Union Chairman Chen Yu-an cited an example where a courier spent 25 minutes on the first delivery and 29 minutes on a second, under the new law guaranteeing a minimum payment of NT$45 per order and compensation based on delivery time at NT$245 per hour. The courier should have received NT$220.6, according to Chen. Instead, Uber Eats calculated payment only on the longer delivery time, allegedly shortchanging the courier NT$102.1.
Su mentioned that the Ministry of Labor (MOL) determined Uber Eats' method of calculating stacked-order pay violated the new law. The MOL indicated that the company's delivery pay calculation in the case cited by Chen violated the law, with potential fines ranging from NT$20,000 to NT$100,000 for each violation. The MOL urged Uber Eats to halt the illegal practice immediately, warning of further fines if the situation did not improve.
Uber Eats responded last Thursday, stating its payment formula for stacked deliveries was based on the total time spent on combined trips. The company argued that each order in a stacked delivery was still covered by the minimum compensation guarantees under the new law.
The alliance and the union announced they would continue collecting delivery records and payment statements to assist affected couriers in filing complaints while pursuing both administrative and criminal actions against the company and its executives.