The San Francisco city attorney’s office has reached a $2.3 million settlement with WorkWhile, a gig-work company that the city attorney’s office said wrongfully classified its workers as contractors instead of employees.
The company did not admit wrongdoing. The settlement marks the end of a two-year lawsuit against WorkWhile by City Attorney David Chiu, whose office has made it a priority to crack down on gig companies and other firms for alleged labor-law violations. Chiu has staffed a worker-protection unit with several attorneys, and his office has won settlements against Lyft, a firm called GigSmart and others
WorkWhile, which promises workers flexible, short-term jobs across several industries, will have to pay a cumulative $7.2 million by 2029 to its workers. It will have to reclassify them as employees instead of independent contractors, who do not enjoy the same hour-and-wage protections as employees.
“With this settlement, WorkWhile will no longer deny its gig workers the wages and benefits they are owed,” Chiu said in a statement. “California labor laws are clear, and gig companies cannot sidestep them to shortchange workers.”
This is not the first settlement against WorkWhile. The city first sued the firm in June 2024 and claimed the company had denied its non-driver workers employment benefits and protections by wrongfully classifying them as contractors.
By December 2024, the city reached a partial judgement and injunction. WorkWhile was required to pay $1 million to non-driver workers in hospitality, food industry and warehouse jobs obtained through the company’s app.
In January of this year, WorkWhile reached another partial settlement with the city. The firm agreed to pay a subset of delivery drivers who worked shifts through Sept. 5, 2025, $4.1 million. The company was also required to pay $400,000 in penalties to the city attorney’s office.
The new $2.3 million settlement is to pay out the remaining allegedly misclassified drivers. The company will have to pay $2.1 million in restitution to its drivers and $200,000 in penalties to the city.
The settlement also requires that, starting Jan. 1, 2027, all WorkWhile workers be classified as employees and given benefits like paid breaks, sick pay, safety protections and more.
In January of this year, WorkWhile denied any wrongdoing. In a statement from the company’s CEO, Simon Khalaf wrote, “While we strongly disagree with the City’s allegations, this resolution allows us to put workers first, delivering tangible financial support to the people who power our platform, while staying focused on our mission.”
