Dive Brief:

• More than 100 tech workers have signed an open letter addressed to food delivery startup DoorDash, saying they will not work for the company unless it fixes its pay practices for its drivers, according to the letter.
• Specifically, the tech workers made three demands of DoorDash: that it would set a minimum wage of $15 per hour, after expenses, for drivers; that it would add tips drivers earn on top of their pay; and that it would be more transparent with drivers and share a "detailed breakdown of pay" with them.
• The letter said DoorDash pays drivers a minimum payment for each delivery, but counts in tips to reach the minimum. "If a user tips more, it doesn't mean the worker gets paid more," the letter read. "DoorDash just pays less."

Dive Insight:

In this market, tech workers are particularly unafraid to speak their minds to force change at their companies, especially since tech workers remain in high demand. For example, Google employees banded together to advocate for several demands in November, and the tech giant answered them with at least some change. Some tech companies, including Survey Monkey, have also upped the benefits they offer to their contract workers in response to employee concerns. Proactive moves in response to concerns tend to be good for the employer's brand, which assists in the recruiting process later on.

But Silicon Valley-based enterprises aren't the only industry being called out for bad pay practices or even wage theft; the U.S. Department of Labor files on wage-theft settlements show that Walmart, FedEx, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are some of the biggest alleged perpetrators, in that they've paid the highest total settlements and fines after being charged with wage theft.

In fact, workers have been robbed of billions of dollars in pay, according to the Good Jobs First and Jobs With Justice Education Fund, a nonprofit activist group. The organization, which specializes in wage theft, said that large U.S. corporations have been charged with denying workers overtime pay, forcing them to work during off-duty hours and otherwise shortchanging them through other activities — all of which (besides being illegal) can make recruiting particularly difficult later on.