A trial for “concealed work” opens this Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. at the Paris Criminal Court until March 16. On the dock Deliveroo and three of its former leaders. According to the investigators, the delivery company and its leaders would have employed as independent delivery people who should have been salaried.
The “subordinate relationship” between Deliveroo France and more than 2,000 delivery people who had “no freedom” in their organization is well “established”, estimated the gendarmes of the Central Office for the fight against illegal work, seized of facts concerning the period 2015-2017. According to them, the company falsely presents itself as a platform for “connecting” between customers, restaurants and delivery people, while the delivery of meals at home or at work is “the very object” of its activity.
Evidence that Deliveroo is indeed the “boss”
In its contracts, Deliveroo explains that it has to resort to subcontracting, for lack of “in-house” staff with the required “technical skills” and “special know-how” necessary for bicycle delivery. A “very relative” expertise, judged the prosecution, which highlights a series of “obligations” (wearing the uniform, allocated slots, attitude to adopt in front of the customer or the restaurateur) imposed on delivery people under penalty of “reprimands”, proving in his eyes that Deliveroo is indeed the “boss”.
“Deliveroo works with independent delivery people, because it’s in line with how they tell us they like to do business. This gives them a flexibility that they could not benefit from in an employee relationship, ”defended the company.
“Today is the trial of Deliveroo, but it is above all an alert to all companies which operate on the same principle and abuse independent status”, warned Me Kevin Mention, lawyer for 70 deliverers already civil parties in this case. Other delivery men are expected to join them, and several of them will testify in court.