DoorDash-Backed Policy on Driver Benefits Spreads Across States

Bills endorsed by gig-economy giants and designed to expand benefits access for drivers are gaining traction in statehouses, as proponents say they promote flexibility and critics deride them as eroding labor protections.

Lawmakers from Florida to Wyoming are considering the bills, which let businesses put money into contracted workers’ portable benefits accounts. The measures, which mirror recent laws in Alabama, Tennessee, and Utah, would ensure those contributions can’t be used as a reason to classify workers as employees.

The policy’s spread—including federal versions pending in Congress—is the latest maneuver in a policy battle over worker classifications, particularly for Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc., and DoorDash Inc. drivers. DoorDash boosted the idea with pilot programs in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia in 2024 and 2025, contributing to accounts of drivers who opted to participate.

They and other app-based companies classify drivers as independent contractors, excluding them from protections such as minimum wage and union rights as well as employment benefits including health insurance and retirement plans. The issue also affects millions of jobs including nursing, truck driving, construction, freelance writing, and last-mile delivery for companies such as Amazon.com Inc.

Although state and federal laws vary in their worker classification approaches, companies that offer benefits tend to undermine their argument for contractor status.

“Providing benefits is something you do for an employee, not for an independent contractor,” said Patrice Onwuka, director at the Center for Economic Opportunity at the Independent Women’s Forum, who drafted model legislation. “This is a safe harbor bill.”

Portable Benefits

The proposals would let independent contractors voluntarily set up portable benefits accounts for individual and company contributions. Workers decide how to use the money, including to pay for benefits such as medical insurance.

Some of the bills allow state income tax deductions for contributions.

This year’s bills have shown varying degrees of success. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey (R) highlighted a workforce readiness proposal (SB 402) that includes portable benefits language in his “State of the State” speech. The Mississippi House passed a bill (HB 1072) that’s awaiting Senate action. Bills in Georgia (HB 987), Kansas (HB 2602), and Wyoming (SF 41) have gotten initial committee approvals.

A Florida measure (HB 1431) hasn’t had its first committee hearing with the general session more than halfway finished. Similar proposals are pending in New Hampshire (HB 1245) and Rhode Island (H7365).

Industry groups including the Chamber of Progress have backed at least some of the proposals. Doordash, Instacart’s parent Maplebear Inc., and Uber directly lobbied for a similar bill that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) vetoed in 2025. Evers said it locked drivers into independent contractor status without guaranteeing benefits in return.

Alternative proposals would require companies to contribute to gig worker benefit accounts in at least two states, Massachusetts (H1108) and New Jersey (S1753).

DoorDash, Lyft, and Uber each confirmed they support providing drivers access to portable benefits while protecting the flexibility of gig work. But they’re not necessarily on the same page about the details.

For example, Uber prefers a policy that would “require industry-wide participation so that platform workers, who often earn across multiple apps, can access meaningful benefits,” a spokesperson said.

Weak Substitute?

Like Evers, some worker advocates and labor unions oppose the bills, saying they’re weak substitutes for health and retirement benefits for workers who should be considered employees.

“These programs are being pushed by the gig companies, Uber, Lyft, Doordash, who are in my view misclassifying their workers as independent contractors,” said Laura Padin, director of work structures at the National Employment Law Project.

Gig drivers often don’t earn the minimum hourly wage after accounting for vehicle expenses, and they lack health insurance, she said.

“These companies are foisting all of the risks and costs of their business model onto their workers,” Padin said.

The Florida bill would make it easier for businesses to misclassify workers, linking their use of the accounts to a classification test in worker’s compensation law, Padin wrote to one bill sponsor. It says a worker could be an independent contractor if they’re paid on a per-job basis, responsible for satisfactory completion of their work, or incur the primary expenses of the job.

Padin said Florida law should presume workers are employees unless specific conditions prove they’re independent contractors.

Onwuka says the misclassification concern is misplaced. The proposals tie independent contractor classification to existing state laws, without changing how workers are classified.

“Many people choose this kind of work because they value flexibility and control over their schedules, and many small businesses rely on independent workers to operate and grow,” Kansas state Rep. Laura Williams (R) told a state House committee while sponsoring the benefits bill there. She said she chose independent work while raising young children to save on child care.

“Our laws should protect independent contracting status and reflect how Kansans actually work today,” she said.

Legislative Compromises

Some driver organizations and unions have backed away from fighting for employee status, opting instead to push for better pay and protections within the independent contractor model.

The efforts have yielded legislative compromises in Washington, AG settlements including in New York, and state laws establishing a collective bargaining system in California and Massachusetts.

Although fashioned as portable benefits proposals, the bills would let workers choose how to use money in their accounts. In pilot programs that DoorDash ran in Georgia and Pennsylvania, drivers mostly used it for emergency savings or paid time off, while relatively few applied it toward health care or retirement.

Those DoorDash funds ended up being “glorified savings accounts,” Padin said.

The 5,500 DoorDash drivers who participated in the Georgia pilot built up an average of $163 over six months, according to a November 2025 report on the pilot. Most of the money came from DoorDash contributing 4% of each driver’s earnings.

“It works out to very, very little,” Padin said. “It’s not meaningful enough to allow them to buy health insurance or anything like that.”