Deliveroo ordered to give workers jobs back

A BARCELONA court has ordered the reinstatement of nine Deliveroo delivery workers and told the company to pay them a total of €56,000 after deciding their ‘fundamental rights’ were breached when they were sacked.

The compensation is the salaries they should have received since their dismissals in 2017, plus holiday pay.

The judge ordered Deliveroo to pay nine of the applicants a total of €6,251 each for infringement of fundamental rights, plus amounts ranging from €123 to €628 for outstanding vacations.

The judgment also declared the dismissals null and void with effect from the end of June 2017, in two cases, and with effect from August 8, 2017, in the remaining seven.

Judges heard that some of the workers had participated in protests against Deliveroo and were part of the pressure group “Riders x Rights”, which denounced the precariousness of working for the company, saying they were “false self-employed.”

In some of these cases, the delivery company justified the dismissals by alleging drunkenness or delivering propaganda critical of Deliveroo. The court did not consider the allegations sufficient to justify the sackings.

It is not known if this judgement will have a bearing on a much bigger case expected to be heard in October 2020 between Deliveroo and 748 distributors. This is to determine what employment relationship there is between both parties.