WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc has agreed to pay more than $61.7 million to settle allegations that it failed to pay Amazon Flex drivers all of the tips given by customers over more than two years, the Federal Trade Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
The money paid to the FTC will be used to compensate drivers, the FTC said.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The FTC said that the company advertised that drivers in a program called Flex would be paid $18 to $25 an hour to make deliveries and would receive 100% of any tips.
The FTC says, however, that in late 2016 that Amazon began giving the drivers less per hour but did not tell them.
“Amazon used the customer tips to make up the difference between the new lower hourly rate and the promised rate,” the FTC said in a statement.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
