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Description

The Paris Court of Appeal upheld the judgement of the Paris Employment Tribunal (Conseil de Prud'hommes de Paris) on 6 December 2022 which had declared itself without jurisdiction to rule on the case.

The appellant, Mr [W] [U] [F], failed to overcome the presumption that he was not an employee and could not prove the existence of a permanent legal relationship of subordination with the Uber companies.

The court examined and dismissed each of the VTC driver's arguments for an employment contract:

Control via geolocation and pay: The court ruled that geolocation and Uber's setting of fares are legal requirements and characteristics of the platform, not evidence of subordination.

Ratings and the power of sanction: The rating and deactivation system was not considered a disciplinary power of an employer. Instead, the court saw it as a means to ensure service quality and to enforce the terms of use agreed upon by the driver.

Integration into an organised service: The court noted that even though the driver was working within an organised service, this was not enough to establish a relationship of subordination. This was because the driver had the freedom to arrange his own business, stay offline, and work with other platforms.

Consequently, the Court of Appeal ruled that Mr F had not been able to establish an employment contract and confirmed the original judgment.

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Additional metadata

Keywords

autonomy and control, platform characteristics and business model, employment status

Actors

Platform, Individual worker, Court

Sector

Transportation and storage

Platforms

Uber

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