New NYC delivery tip laws on after Uber Eats, DoorDash lose bid to stall

MANHATTAN (CN) — A federal judge on Friday rejected a bid from top food delivery apps to keep New York City from enacting new tipping regulations that could put more money in drivers’ pockets on the front end of deliveries.

In a 13-page ruling, U.S. District Judge George Daniels denied the claims from DoorDash and Uber Eats that the rules violate their First, Fifth and 14th Amendment rights, finding instead that they accomplish what the city set out to do — give consumers more transparency and protect the delivery workers.

The regulations in question require users be given the option to tip delivery workers at checkout, rather than after they place or receive their orders, and sets the default tip to a minimum of 10%.

The apps used to have the tip prompt at the front end of orders, but swapped it to the back end in December 2023. Since then, the city claims customers wound up tipping their drivers a whopping $554 million less through the second quarter of 2025.

The new changes, set to take effect Monday amid an incoming Big Apple blizzard, “advance the city’s goals of enhancing cost transparency at the time of checkout, restoring consumer choice, and providing protections to delivery workers,” Daniels wrote.

“Plaintiffs’ allegations that they will suffer from loss of goodwill are not conclusive, as the record reflects that plaintiffs continue to provide a tipping prompt compliant with the tipping laws for orders outside New York City, and ‘self-delivery’ orders fulfilled by the merchant,” the Bill Clinton appointee added.

Daniels only rejected the delivery apps’ bid for a preliminary injunction to block the laws from taking effect Monday. The apps could still theoretically prevail at trial, should the case get there.

DoorDash and Uber Eats filed the joint lawsuit last month, accusing the city of violating their constitutional rights by forcing them to comply with front-end tipping — “and speak a message they would not otherwise.”

“Even if plaintiffs attempt to comply with the tipping law (therein being compelled to speak), the imminent threat of enforcement still causes irreparable harm,” the companies wrote in a 49-page complaint, filed on Dec. 10.

Additionally, they claim the laws will worsen consumer “tipping fatigue,” citing reports suggesting around 9 in 10 Americans feel that tipping culture has gotten out of hand.

”Tipping in the United States is at a crossroads,” DoorDash and Uber Eats claim. “What was once a discretionary courtesy intended to acknowledge exceptional service is spreading to new contexts as some businesses solicit tips in increasingly aggressive ways.”

Daniels was ultimately unconvinced by these arguments, too, writing Friday that tipping delivery workers is not a new concept.

“The tipping laws, therefore, are not likely to contribute to the fatigue and consequent alleged loss of reputation and goodwill,” the judge found.

Grocery delivery company Instacart will have to abide by the new regulations as well. Despite the company filing a similar lawsuit last month, in which it tried to distance itself from DoorDash and Uber Eats, another federal judge in New York shot down the challenge, bringing tips to the front end of Instacart’s deliveries as well come next week.

It’s a victory for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has criticized delivery apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats in the past and advocated for higher wages for drivers. Last week, he announced legal action against another food delivery company, Motoclick, following complaints from workers that the company has been stealing tips, charging drivers illegal fees and breaching minimum wage laws.

He also claimed to send “warning letters” to 60 app companies, warning them about the impending tip laws and urging their compliance.

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