The hearing began shortly before 2:00 p.m. in front of a crowded room and in the presence of former leaders and several delivery people.

More than 70 of them have joined the trial as civil parties.

The investigation made it possible to establish a "link of subordination" between Deliveroo France and more than 2,000 deliverers who had "no freedom" in their organization, according to the gendarmes of the Central Office for the Fight against Illegal Labor, seized of facts concerning the period 2015-2017.

According to them, the company falsely presents itself as a platform for "connecting" customers, restaurants and delivery people, while the delivery of meals at home or at work is "the very object" of its activity.

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".

"Flexibility"

"Deliveroo works with independent delivery people, because it is in line with the way they tell us that they like to carry out their activity. It gives them a flexibility which they could not benefit from in a salaried relationship", assured the company. with the AFP.

"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 several dozen delivery people already civil parties in this case.

Other delivery workers are expected to join them, and several of them are expected to testify in court on Wednesday.

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.

In Great Britain, the American giant Uber, targeted by an investigation for concealed work in France, granted its 70,000 drivers a hybrid status of "salaried workers" which grants them minimum wages, paid holidays and access to a pension fund, a world first for the American company.

And Deliveroo has announced its intention to leave Spain, where a law passed last year obliges the British group to pay its delivery workers.

The trial is scheduled until March 16.

© 2022 AFP