The Paris Criminal Court sentenced the delivery platform Deliveroo to a fine of 375,000 euros for “concealed work.” The latter hired delivery men as independents when they should, according to the prosecution, be salaried.
Victory for delivery people in the face of uberization. This Tuesday, the Paris Criminal Court fined Deliveroo 375,000 euros for “concealed work”, the maximum amount provided. According to the prosecution, the delivery platform employed independent delivery people when they should have been salaried. This criminal deliberation testifies to the “uberization” of delivery people, with the challenge of clearly defining their status.
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The court thus fully followed the requisitions of the prosecution during the trial for “concealed work” against the platform. Last March, during the first criminal trial, the prosecution had requested a fine of 375,000 euros against Deliveroo France and a one-year suspended prison sentence against two former French leaders of the platform. Around a hundred delivery workers filed civil suits, and around ten marched to the bar to denounce their working conditions, characterized by constant “pressure” and “surveillance”.
A system that enjoys “all the advantages of the employer”, “without the disadvantages”
According to prosecutor Céline Ducournau, the Deliveroo company is responsible for “the instrumentalization and misappropriation of labor regulations”, in order to organize a “systemic concealment” of delivery jobs. The latter should have been employees and not self-employed. The prosecutor also wanted to display the court decision for two months in front of Deliveroo’s premises, on its website and mobile application. According to her, the leaders have built a “system” that enjoys “all the advantages of the employer”, “without the disadvantages”.
The objective of the platform? According to Céline Ducournau, it is a question of employing “at a lower cost” its deliverers, without taking into account whether some are “satisfied” with this status or “feel free”. The deliverers present at the trial were able to testify to an atmosphere of “war” within Deliveroo. First seduced by the “freedom” and “flexibility” promised by the platform, the latter denounce the incessant objective of profit and the constant reprimands of Deliveroo.
The two former leaders, held responsible for the case between 2015 and 2017, are sentenced to one year in prison suspended and 30,000 euros fine. A third executive found guilty of complicity receives a four-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 10,000 euros. Antonin Lévy, lawyer for Deliveroo France, denounced the instrumentalization of the trial, which he considers to be “a political forum”. He maintained that Deliveroo was only “connecting” customers, restaurateurs and deliverers, and denied “any relationship of subordination”. A spokesperson for Deliveroo also indicated that the platform “considered” to appeal.
The status of delivery people has become a political subject
This contested decision points to the lack of legislation in the framework of the work of Deliveroo drivers. So much so that the status of delivery people has become a political subject; Marine Le Pen has taken up the issue by proposing to grant the drivers and deliverers of delivery platforms the status of employees.
This complex tenure is currently the subject of debate in many European countries, where attempts are being made to find compromises. Great Britain, for example, considered its 70,000 Uber drivers to be “salaried workers”. This hybrid status gives them a minimum wage, paid holidays and access to a retirement fund. A world first for the American company. Spain has also passed a law forcing Deliveroo to pay its deliverers, arousing many fears on the part of these giants of uberization.