On Tuesday Drive Forward Member James Lockhart and Executive Director Michael Wolfe provided testimony to the Seattle City Council Public Safety and Human Services Committee, on deactivations and background checks for delivery drivers who use platforms like Instacart and Grubhub.

Deactivations occur for many reasons, whether it’s for easily resolved issues like an expired insurance card or driver license, or more complex issues like a failed motor vehicle records check, these deactivation can reduce or eliminate a revenue stream to your business. We have heard from many of our members that often the companies are not always forthcoming in their communications to contractors over deactivation reasons, especially when the reason is more complex.

To make sure your voice was at the table as the Seattle City Council begins to consider adopting regulations about deactivations and background checks for delivery app contractors Drive Forward participated in this panel discussion.

In our testimony to the committee we clearly articulate what we want to see from City Council when considering regulations.  We want any regulations to require the companies to:

• Provide a more detailed explanation when deactivating a contractor. 
• Provide a warning, when possible, before deactivation with suggested ways for the contractor to improve to avoid deactivation.
• Have a clear process for appealing a deactivation, managed by people empowered to make decisions on the appeals.

Additionally we are asking the City Council to require the companies to provide more information on what would cause a contractor to fail a background check or a motor vehicles record check.  By doing so the contractor may choose to not contract with a certain company, or could easier appeal a deactivation by clearing inaccurate information in a background check.

These simple steps would go a long way in keeping more of you out there on the roads creating revenue for your businesses! Drive Forward is continually committed to supporting independent contractors by making sure they are protected from losing their livelihood because of a decision by an algorithm.

If you have been deactivated from a delivery company’s platform we want to hear your story, send us an email to drivers@driveforwardseattle.org.