The Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court approved this morning (Wednesday) a request for a class action against the Volt delivery company, arguing that there is a reason to recognize Volt's couriers as Volt employees and not as self-employed.
This means that, if the lawsuit is accepted, Walt's messengers will be entitled to pension, vacation and sick days, severance pay and recovery benefits like any other employee.
The request was submitted by lawyers Yaakov Spigelman and Amit Ido.
In the decision given, Judge Ariela Gilzer-Katz wrote: "After reviewing the tests for establishing working relationships, it appears that most of the tests in the mixed test are met by the applicant, and it can be determined at this stage that there is a reasonable possibility that it will be determined that working relationships will exist between the applicant and the responding group."
The summary of the decision reads: "We believe that the applicant was able to prove that his chances of winning the claim for retroactive recognition of him and the members of the group (Shelachi Walt) as employees of the respondent are reasonable."
Will Walt's messengers be recognized as employees?, Photo: Public Relations
It is also written: "We have not lost sight of the fact that the messenger in Walt, unlike a salaried employee, can disconnect from the application at any time and then he is not obligated to provide service and be available for Walt. But the messenger in Walt is required to pay a 'price' for the absence whenever he is required to undergo retraining and refresh before returning to work through The platform, as long as it hasn't made deliveries in three months."
"An important milestone in the fight to protect workers' rights"
Aviad Hominer Rosenblum, policy director and researcher at the Berel Katznelson Foundation: "The decision of the Labor Court is an important milestone in the struggle to protect the rights of workers in Israel and in the world. It is good that the Court in Israel is signaling that it is seriously considering a similar ruling, which will block the slippery slope of the deterioration of workers' rights in Israel, which may reach all of us. It is appropriate that Walt and its companies continue to operate when their business model is truly based on technological efficiency and good service and not on the exploitation of workers and the enforcement of labor laws."
Attorney Amichai Weinberger, expert in labor law: "Many companies make use of contracting companies or other proxy companies, and sometimes in order to avoid employee-employer relations.
It seems that the court decided to put limitations on the freelancer method.
The procedure in which the theoretical conclusions that there are employment relationships were established is indeed preliminary, but as long as a judgment is given in the class action itself."
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