"Uberization": the expected decision for Deliveroo, suspected of concealed work

Caroline Baudry with AFP 6:41 a.m., April 19, 2022, modified at 6:41 a.m., April 19, 2022

Deliveroo will soon be fixed on its fate.

The Paris Criminal Court must say on Tuesday whether the platform employed as independent delivery people who, according to the prosecution, should have been salaried.

In March, after a week of trial, known as the first criminal trial in France of "uberization", the prosecution had requested the maximum penalty of 375,000 euros in fine against Deliveroo France, as well as one year suspended prison sentence against two former French managers of the company.

The prosecutor had regretted the absence on the bench of the defendants of the American William Shu, big boss of the British company and "unquestionably" at the origin of the "system" which allowed Deliveroo to benefit from "all the advantages of the employer", "without the inconvenience".

Employ couriers at low cost

Deliveroo is responsible for "an instrumentalization and misuse of labor regulations", with the aim of organizing a "systemic concealment" of jobs for delivery people who should have been employees and not independent, had hammered Céline Ducournau.

The "fraud" put in place had the sole purpose of employing its deliverers "at a lower cost", and it does not matter if some are "satisfied" with this status or "feel free", she had underlined, in reference to the one of Deliveroo's arguments to justify the status of auto-entrepreneur.

>> READ ALSO -

 Faced with Deliveroo and Uber Eats, young more ethical platforms are asserting themselves

"It is not about the trial of poor working conditions", nor that of "modes of consumption of our time", had retorted in defense Antonin Lévy, lawyer for Deliveroo France, for which the trial sometimes took on airs of "political forum".

A highly disputed status

A dozen delivery men on bicycles or scooters, many now committed against the "system", marched to the bar to tell their arrival at Deliveroo, attracted by the promises of "freedom" and "flexibility" but had discovered the "war " to get the best time "slots", the "pressure", the "surveillance" and the reprimands of Deliveroo.

In total, more than a hundred are civil parties to the trial.

Deliveroo maintained that it was only "connecting" customers, restaurateurs and deliverers, and denied "any relationship of subordination".

For the two successive leaders of Deliveroo France over the period concerned, from 2015 to 2017, the prosecutor requested a one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 30,000 euros.

For a third executive, she requested four months of suspended imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 euros.

Urssaf claims 9.7 million euros

The prosecutor also wanted as an additional penalty "the display and dissemination" of the court decision, in particular in front of the premises of Deliveroo for two months, as well as on the home page of the site and the mobile application of the platform.

A penalty thought for the "current workers" of the platform, she said.

>> Find all the editorial newspapers of Europe 1 in replay and podcast here

The Urssaf claims for its part 9.7 million euros to make up for the social security contributions avoided by the use of independent deliverers.

Highly contested, the independent status of Uber drivers or Deliveroo couriers is called into question in many countries by the courts or, more rarely, by laws which have prompted certain giants in the sector to propose compromises.