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Deliveroo found guilty of abusing riders’ rights in France

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Deliveroo

(Reuters) — Two former bosses of Deliveroo were given suspended one-year prison sentences and fined 30,000 euros ($32,380) by a French court on Tuesday for abusing the freelance status of riders working for the British takeaway delivery platform.

The company was also fined the maximum penalty of 375,000 euros and will have to publish the court decision on its French home page for one month.

The ruling may reverberate outside France as the gig economy, built largely upon digital apps and self-employed workers, faces a number of court challenges that may redefine working conditions.

The administrative investigation, which reviewed a period extending from 2015 to 2017, and the following court hearings showed that Deliveroo had imposed an almost permanent surveillance and control over riders' work while they were connected,  Judge Sylvie Daunis said.

That included allocating riders long time slots to be sure Deliveroo had as many people on hand as possible during the weekend and telling drivers who refused that they would not be allowed to work for the platform the following weeks.

Even though the riders were freelance, the court also found that Deliveroo unilaterally changed the criteria under which pay increases were defined or the minimum time needed to be online to qualify as a rider.