The District of Columbia’s attorney general is suing Amazon.com Inc., seeking civil penalties for allegedly misleading consumers who thought they were tipping delivery drivers but had the money diverted to cover the couriers’ base pay.

The case, filed in Washington, D.C., Superior Court, cites a 2021 settlement between the company and the Federal Trade Commission, in which the agency found that Amazon withheld tips meant for its gig-economy drivers for more than two years.

Amazon delivery drivers were meant to receive all tips

The mass merchant had pledged that Amazon delivery drivers would receive 100% of the value of tips, but Amazon instead used a portion of the gratuities to pay the base rate for its drivers, the FTC said. The Seattle-based company agreed to pay $61.7 million to settle the matter, which was earmarked for drivers. Amazon spokespeople at the time said the company disagreed that its prior pay practices were unclear.

“My office is suing Amazon for stealing tips from delivery drivers through a deceptive, illegal scheme that made consumers think they were increasing drivers’ pay when Amazon was actually diverting tips to reduce its own labor costs and increase profits,” Washington, D.C., attorney general Karl Racine said in a post on Twitter. Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Racine seeks restitution, a finding that Amazon’s actions violated consumer protection statutes and civil penalties. Racine’s office had sued Amazon last year, alleging the company engaged in anticompetitive practices that drove up prices for consumers. A judge dismissed the case, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to support the claims. Racine subsequently sought to revive it.

Amazon is No. 1 in the 2022 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 database. The Top 1000 ranks North American web merchants by sales. It is No. 3 in the Digital Commerce 360 Online Marketplaces database, which ranks the 100 largest global marketplaces.

Sign up

Stay on top of the latest developments in the ecommerce industry. Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 Retail News.

Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Be the first to know when Digital Commerce 360 publishes news content.