This is a long-awaited decision, including the potential snowball effect could jeopardize the organization of the services of the VTC or of companies delivering meals at home. This Monday, the council of prud’hommes of Paris, it had to render its decision on an apple of discord, which can be summarized in a question: the drivers for Uber are they employees of the platform of online booking of drivers ? After a hearing in mid-December, the instance had to decide on nine folders of drivers using the application to us and asking for a reclassification to be treated as employees of the group.
The advisors assigned to the prud’hommes, however, are not able to come to an agreement: the case must now be re-examined during a hearing of tie-break, under the presidency of a resident magistrate, which lengthens the procedure of several months at a minimum.
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A driver for Uber reclassified as an employee by the justice – Watch it on Figaro Live
“We have assembled a hundred files that are similar, but the ten records only will be judged Monday”, specified in Figaro Master Sylvie Topaloff, a lawyer of drivers. To justify their reclassification as employees, it was committed to “demonstrate the existence of a relationship of subordination” of drivers to the company. A position criticized by Uber, which defended itself by arguing that drivers have a high degree of freedom, are not subject to any exclusivity, and can work when they want, with the platform of their choice (Uber, Taxify or any other) and without a control group.
The defence of Master Topaloff was based in particular on another case, that of a former courier of the company of delivery of meal Take Eat Easy. It was referred to the Court of cassation requesting the reclassification of her employment contract. The institution had made a stop at the end of November last, in which the social chamber of the court had decided to grant her request, determining that there was indeed a “relationship of subordination” between the driver and the company. “The role of the platform is not limited to the relationship of the conservator, the client and the courier”, had ruled the Court, adding that the company had a “power of sanction” on the employee. Therefore, “it was the existence of a power of direction and control of the execution of the service of the delivery man”, element confirming the existence of a “relationship of subordination” between the driver and the company, and for re-qualification of the contract of employment into permanent contracts. An argument picked up by Master Topaloff for drivers Uber.
A trend in France
a Number of companies that have “ubérisé” services are the target of a salvo of decisions made by various legal bodies French these last few months. The judgment rendered by the Court of cassation in November has been emulated and has driven the council of prud’hommes of Paris to recognize, at the beginning of march, two former drivers of the defunct company Take Eat Easy as of employees a full-fledged company, not auto-entrepreneurs. Their contract has been requalified as a CDI and the two employees in question have received a back-pay, damages and interest, as well as a reminder of paid leave. The lawyer of one of the two drivers had specified that it was a “first to Paris for a bike courier”.
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Company’s iconic transformation of the modes of work, Uber is facing several cases of drivers wishing to be re-qualified. The ten drivers involved in Monday’s decision could be followed by a hundred others put together by Master Topaloff, as well as other business which is already well advanced and publicized. Last year, for example, the justice had to decide on the request of a former driver for Uber, Maximilian Petrovic, who was seized in June 2017 the council of prud’hommes in requesting the reclassification of his contract binding him to the company in CDI. The man believed that the breakdown of his working relationship with Uber tantamount to unfair dismissal. The council of prud’hommes of Paris, was initially declared incompetent to manage this, and had transferred to the commercial court.
In January 2019, the court of appeal of Paris, seized by the plaintiff, had rendered a judgment in its favor, believing that a “beam of sufficient cues” allowed to consider that there is a “relationship of subordination” between the driver and Uber. “The fact of being able to choose his days and hours of work does not per se exclude a relationship of job subordinate,” said the court, recalling that the company had control over the driver despite the absence of an employment contract. By doing this, it was determined that the relationship between the two parties could indeed be qualified as a “contract of employment”. It was therefore decided to refer this case to the council of prud’hommes, who is qualified to handle the “disputes” relating to work contracts.
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This folder does not, however, taken over by the prud’hommes immediately, Uber is being immediately appealed. Contacted, the american giant explains in Figaro that the judgment of the court of appeal, “highlights the legal uncertainty in which always operate the platforms and workers”, as well as the “need for clarification and adaptation of the law to technological developments”. “The unions themselves do not wish this status of an employee,” adds the group. The company points out that its drivers choose to use their application to “the independence and the freedom to connect”, a “flexibility” that the u.s. company wants to protect and defend.
