SF City Attorney secures $2.1 million deal requiring gig economy company to reclassify workers as employees

San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced today that he has reached a groundbreaking agreement with Qwick that requires the company to convert all of its misclassified California workers to employees, ensuring they are eligible for the full range of employee benefits and protections. In 2023, Chiu sued Qwick, a gig economy company that provides on-demand staffing to the hospitality industry, for depriving workers of critical employment protections by misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees.

“This settlement is a huge victory for Qwick workers who are entitled to the same protections, wages, and benefits as their peers employed at hotels and restaurants. We appreciate the work of the City Attorney’s Office to enforce the law in San Francisco. Employers should be on notice that they can’t get away with worker misclassification here in our city.” – Anand Singh, President of UNITE HERE Local 2

Read more from the SF City Attorney’s office here and in the SF Chronicle here.