foodpanda in Taiwan may face fines over complaints about deductions from courier payments
Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor said delivery platform foodpanda could face fines of NT$20,000 to NT$100,000 for each courier if complaints about illegal deductions from payments due to delays are confirmed. The cases concern situations in which the platform unilaterally set time limits for completing orders.
As Taipei Times reports, the Ministry of Labor said at meetings with local labor authorities that such a foodpanda practice violates the Act for the Protection of Delivery Workers’ Rights and the Management of Delivery Platforms. Local labor bureaus may impose a fine after establishing that complaints filed by workers are well-founded.
Couriers’ complaints
According to Wang Hou-wei, director-general of the ministry’s Department of Labor Relations, all cases reported to local authorities involved foodpanda. He did not specify the number of complaints, citing a lack of complete data.
Couriers reported reductions in payments for exceeding the estimated delivery time by just one to five minutes. They described the policy as unfair, as numerous unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances may arise on the roads.
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The ministry stressed that in the event of a delay, platforms must determine its causes and act through proper mechanisms rather than unilaterally reducing payments. The agency said illegal practices would not be tolerated.
Position of unions and the company
The National Delivery Workers Union and two other unions accused foodpanda of shifting responsibility for order delays onto couriers as a pretext for illegally reducing payments. The preparatory committee of the Taiwan Delivery Workers Union Federation noted that delays may be caused by staff shortages at stores, long waits at restaurants during peak hours, GPS and system failures, unavailable customers, incorrect addresses, traffic jams, road closures, and bad weather.
The law, which took effect on July 21, provides for payment based on the actual time spent completing a delivery at a rate of 1.25 times the minimum wage. The minimum payment per order is NT$45.
foodpanda public relations director Emma Kuo said the company had never refused to pay couriers because of delivery delays. According to her, the platform only asked for an explanation of the reasons for excessively long trips and would pay the full amount if a justified explanation was provided.
