They will receive 17 to 20 million euros from the American company.
The company Uber was condemned Friday by the council of the prud’hommes of Lyon to pay some 17 million euros to 139 drivers of VTC, a “quite historic decision“, according to their lawyer, Me Stéphane Teyssier. Contacted by AFP, the American firm has already announced its desire to appeal.
Lyon drivers had seized the industrial tribunal in 2020 to have the relationship that linked them to Uber reclassified as an employment contract. The hearing had been held in June 2022.”We had a pretty historic decision today. Uber was ordered to requalify the contracts of 139 drivers for an amount of 17 to 20 million euros“, told AFP Me Teyssier, confirming information from the regional daily Le Progrès. “A conviction of such magnitude is unprecedented in France (…) The amount is a surprise amount but the logic of the requalification was predictable“, he underlined.
The prud’hommes, who rendered their decision under advisement, pronounced “on the basis of well-established case law of the Court of Cassation of January 2020. The Court of Cassation considered that Uber drivers should be considered as employees (…) This is the logical application of such a jurisprudence“, estimated the lawyer. The American company disputes: “this decision goes against the position widely shared by industrial tribunals and courts of appeal which confirm the independence of VTC drivers using the application, judging in particular that there is no work obligation, nor exclusivity vis-à-vis Uber or that the drivers remain totally free in the organization of their activity“Commented a spokesperson contacted by AFP, without giving the amount of the sum that Uber will have to pay.
An independent status considered “fictitious”.
The Court of Cassation had recognized in March 2020 the existence of a relationship of subordination between Uber and one of its drivers, judging that the status of independent was “fictionaland that he should be considered as an employee. Later, in September 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal considered that the employment relationship between a driver and Uber could “to be analyzed as an employment contractand not as a business relationship.
But, according to Uber, since the judgment of the Court of Cassation in March 2020, requests for requalification as salaried drivers have not been successful in more than 65% of cases (298 drivers not requalified out of 460 requests). “Uber is surprised by this decision but it is the logical continuation of all the decisions that have taken place in Europe, which take place in France“, retorted Me Teyssier.
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The status of self-employed, on which platforms like Uber or Deliveroo base their model, is being questioned in a growing number of countries. “We are determined to advance the question of the rights of platform workers and convinced that the right path is that of social dialogue with the representatives of the drivers to build a model that preserves the flexibility and independence that they acclaim, while guaranteeing concrete improvements in their working conditions“Said the spokesperson for Uber, which has some 30,000 drivers using its platform in France.