Uber in the sights of justice. The VTC company (transport car with driver) has been the subject of an investigation since 2015 for “hidden work”. The investigations relate to the conditions of employment of Uber drivers, a source close to the matter told AFP on Wednesday, which the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed.
This investigation, opened in 2015 but which has been dormant for a long time, according to a source familiar with the matter, was reactivated in 2020 following a report to the justice of the Urssaf, and was entrusted in co-referral to this body and to the gendarmes of the Central Office for the Fight against Illegal Work (OCLTI). Asked, the Urssaf declined to comment.
Several dozen hearings planned
According to a source familiar with the matter, the investigation, which is in its early stages, covers the period from 2015 to today. No search has been carried out at this stage, but requisitions for documents have been sent to the company. OCLTI investigators are still waiting for returns and to be able to study them, according to the source close to the file.
Several “dozens” of hearings of Uber drivers are planned “to know their condition of employment and recruitment,” added this source.
The self-employed status of Uber drivers or couriers of the Deliveroo meal delivery platform, two flagship companies of the “gig economy”, is called into question in many countries by the courts or, more rarely, by laws, sometimes pushing the giants of the sector to offer compromise solutions.