Sen. Lydia Edwards filed legislation Jan. 14, 2025, proposing statewide protections and regulatory requirements for companies that dispatch app-based delivery workers and for the workers and consumers they serve. The bill, filed as Senate No. 1305 and titled “An Act establishing protections and accountability for Delivery Network Company workers, consumers, and communities,” would add new sections to multiple chapters of the Massachusetts General Laws and create a Delivery Network Company regulatory framework.

The bill would declare application-based delivery workers presumptive employees of Delivery Network Companies and set minimum-pay rules, insurance standards, background-check and driver-certification requirements, data-reporting obligations, municipal licensing options and a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from delivery fleets. It assigns enforcement and regulatory authority across the Department of Labor Standards, the Division established under chapter 25 (the Delivery Network Company and Transportation Network Company Division), the Department of Public Utilities and the attorney general.

Key provisions include a statutory definition of “assigned time” (all time from acceptance of a dispatched assignment until completion and return to base, or until logging off) and “standby time” (time logged on but not on an assignment). The bill would require Delivery Network Companies to pay either the state basic minimum wage for all working time, or, if a worker has unfettered discretion to log on and off, an assigned-time premium equal to 150 percent of the state basic minimum wage for assigned time. It also specifies that a worker’s regular rate for overtime purposes is the greater of the basic minimum wage or the worker’s actual average hourly wage.

On insurance, the bill directs Delivery Network Companies to provide accidental liability coverage for application-based delivery workers of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 in the aggregate. It also sets a minimum reimbursement standard for workers using personal vehicles equal to the federal IRS standard mileage rate or 150 percent of that standard for miles driven during assigned time. The bill adds that motor-vehicle insurers and companies must cooperate in claims investigations and share timing data about when a worker logged on or off a digital network.

The bill would create detailed reporting and transparency obligations. Companies must provide contemporaneous payroll data by base location to the Department of Labor Standards and the attorney general and publish aggregated, de-identified quarterly metrics (hours worked, assigned-time pay, average hourly rates, regional variations). Monthly trip-level data submitted to the division must include origin and destination latitude/longitude to 0.001 decimal degrees, start and end times to the nearest minute, unique worker identifiers, city/town of residence, miles driven, whether accommodations for special needs were requested and provided, GPS positions at intervals of not less than every 60 seconds during a delivery, and other delivery-specific fields.

The bill expands the jurisdiction of the Delivery Network Company and Transportation Network Company Division within the Department of Public Utilities to oversee rates, service quality metrics, decals for vehicles used in delivery work for law enforcement identification, background-check programs, and municipal licensing coordination. It also authorizes the division to audit affiliated companies, require public notice of rate changes, hold hearings on rate or service changes and order reparations where the division finds unjust or unlawful charges.

On worker screening and safety, the proposal requires a two-part background check and a delivery network worker certificate before a person may provide delivery services. Minimum eligibility rules include a 21-year minimum age, criminal-history limits (for example, the bill disqualifies specified sex offenses, violent crimes, certain driving offenses and other enumerated convictions within set lookback periods), and driving-record criteria for drivers who use motor vehicles. Companies must suspend or remove workers who fail continuous suitability checks and must post a visible certificate for each certified worker while services are provided.

The bill contains enforcement mechanisms and remedies. It makes violations enforceable under chapter 149 provisions, directs the attorney general and the Department of Labor Standards to obtain data for oversight and rulemaking, and provides an individual civil remedy for workers alleging retaliation or discrimination, including injunctive relief and, in some circumstances, treble damages, costs and attorneys’ fees.

Other notable elements: the bill authorizes municipal licensing of base locations, requires companies to maintain incident reports for at least seven years and to provide monthly complaint summaries to the division, establishes data-sharing agreements with state agencies for transportation planning and congestion management, and directs the division to establish a biennial greenhouse-gas emissions reduction program that may include vehicle electrification targets. To fund increased labor-relations workload, the bill proposes a 10-cent surcharge per delivery remitted monthly to the commonwealth to support the Department of Labor Relations and related boards.

Several sections include explicit effective dates. Multiple sections of the bill specify that provisions take effect Jan. 1, 2026, including the wage, reporting, permitting and many regulatory provisions; other administrative timing is left to regulations and division rulemaking. The bill was filed with the Senate and is listed for referral to the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development.