The relationship between the Deliveroo couriers and the meal delivery platform cannot be reclassified as an employment contract with the resulting obligations for the employer, a Belgian court ruled on Wednesday, hearing a complaint from the public prosecutor.
The company hailed "
a victory
" for it, while the Christian union CSC, supporting around thirty couriers associated with the complaint, had a more nuanced reading of the judgment.
To discover
The 2021 Christmas bonus will be paid from December 15
Read alsoHow Deliveroo industrialized home meal delivery
The union considered it “
surprising
” that the Brussels Labor Court “
does not find any legal subordination (between the courier and the employer) despite strong economic subordination
”.
"
This judgment is not favorable to anyone, certainly not to couriers who wish to benefit from the rights of other workers, such as social protection or occupational accident insurance with real coverage worthy of its name
", reacted to AFP Martin Willems, an official of the CSC union.
According to him, only 15% of Deliveroo couriers in Belgium work under the self-employed status (financing their social protection themselves), while 85% are placed under the Belgian collaborative economy regime allowing the provision of small services for additional income "
without being either salaried or self-employed
".
And without guaranteed social coverage.
"Emergency" to clarify the status of couriers
However the court says that it is necessary to choose between employee and self-employed, and that this Belgian legal regime is "
not applicable
" to the services of the platforms, supported the union official. He saw in the judgment a call for the government to clarify in an "
urgent
" way the question of the status of these workers. The so-called “
collaborative
”
economy regime
in the era of orders via smartphones was introduced by a 2016 law which has been controversial for several years.
For the court, according to a copy of the judgment obtained by AFP, "
the employment relationship between Deliveroo and the 115 couriers reported by the Labor Auditor (the specialized prosecutor, in his complaint, Editor's note) and to (29) others intervened in the procedure cannot be reclassified as an employment contract
”.
Read also Paris: a "House of couriers" opens in the 18th arrondissement to welcome and help delivery men
As such, the plaintiffs' claims for reparations and that of the ONSS - Belgian Social Security - to condemn Deliveroo and to obtain the payment of arrears of contributions are considered "
unfounded
", according to the decision.
“
It's a victory from a legal point of view for Deliveroo.
It is also a case for couriers who make this conscious choice to work as self-employed, with the flexibility they want,
”Rodolphe Van Nuffel, spokesperson for the Belgian subsidiary of Deliveroo, told AFP.