When the gavel came down, the verdict of the first criminal trial targeting “uberization” in France was unambiguous. The court in Paris recognised the French branch of the London-based company Deliveroo wrongly classified riders who should have been considered employees as independent workers. Found guilty of “systemic concealment” of jobs, the firm was fined 375,000 euros – the maximum demanded by the prosecutor – and two former executives received one-year suspended prison sentences. Another executive was fined 10,000 euros for “complicity” in the scheme, and five labour unions who were plaintiffs in the case received 50,000 euros each.
It follows on the heels of the company’s loss in February 2020, when a judge ruled that Deliveroo was guilty of “skirting labour laws” and ordered them to pay 30,000 euros in damages to a delivery man.
