Supplementary payment of Deliveroo employees

FNV is going to court on behalf of twelve former Deliveroo employees to demand a supplementary payment. The twelve were employed by the delivery service in the period 2015 to mid-2018 and earned around the minimum wage. The judge ruled on appeal last Tuesday that Deliveroo employees appeal under the collective labour agreement for professional freight transport.

Saraya van der Geer, consultant FNV Platformwerk: 'We will ensure that Deliveroo adheres to the collective labour agreement and that these former employees receive what they are entitled to. Deliveroo has flouted the rules long enough now.” 

Deliveroo employed deliverers until early 2018, but then stopped. Anyone who still wanted to work for Deliveroo had to become self-employed. Earlier this year, the judge ruled on appeal that the deliverers are not self-employed and are therefore entitled to an employment contract. "This ruling and last Tuesday's ruling mean that all deliverers who have worked for Deliveroo, whether employed or self-employed, can now demand an employment contract and supplementary payment. In addition to the group for which we are going to court today, more claims are being prepared," said Van der Geer.

Undisturbed

FNV has been fighting for years against the sham constructions at platform companies such as Deliveroo and Uber. These companies use bogus self-employed people. As a result, the deliverers do not receive a fixed hourly wage, allowances or holiday pay and their wages are not paid during waiting time, illness and days off. Moreover, these employers do not pay social security, insurance and pension contributions. Van der Geer: 'We have now won several lawsuits. That's great. But we believe that the government in The Hague should take action. These companies just keep operating in this way and the government has left them undisturbed until now.”

Action

The fact that the government does not intervene is incomprehensible to FNV, but the union does see some changes. This month a European bill was presented that should combat bogus self-employment and the new government coalition agreement states that the government will improve enforcement. ‘It is great that politicians are now feeling the urgency, but action must be taken quickly. These sham constructions must be a thing of the past as soon as possible', says Van der Geer.