Netherlands against Uber: justice recognized the drivers as employees of the firm | Another sign against the disguised dependency relationship

The justice of The Netherlands recognized Uber drivers as employees of the parent company, Instead of self-employed workers like the company, it aims to frame the employment relationship in order to avoid paying fixed wages and social contributions. Uber has already announced that it will appeal the decision.

The lawsuit was brought by the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions. Workers’ representatives argued in court that Uber drivers are employees of a taxi company and should be entitled to the same salary, severance pay and licenses due to illness in the transport sector.

Uber chief executive for Northern Europe, Maurits Schönfeld, told Reuters in a statement that the company is “disappointed” by the court’s ruling because it is convinced that “the vast majority of drivers want to stay self-employed “and do not want to” give “their freedom” to choose when to work.

The lawsuit was filed by the union in December last year with the aim that the company respects the collective agreement for those carrying out passenger transport.

Sanction in the province of Buenos Aires

At the local level, the workers of the distribution platforms have also succeeded in getting justice to impose various sanctions on the companies that own the applications for the maintenance of a disguised working relationship, masked as the “independent worker” of the delivery men.

Last Thursday, for example, the justice of La Plata approved the fine that the government of Buenos Aires imposed on the delivery company. Glovo for disguising labor relations and irregularities in the hiring of its staff and dismissed the appeal brought by this firm.

La Plata Labor Court No.4 fined 6,318,000 pesos to the company for various offenses committed in 2020 and verified by the Ministry of Labor of the Province of Buenos Aires.

The sanctions had been defined in various proceedings carried out in the towns of La Plata, Quilmes, Martínez, Vicente López, San Isidro, Avellaneda, Lanús, Ramos Mejía, Lomas de Zamora and Banfield.

According to the records of the work portfolio, targeted by justice, Kadabra SAS, under the fancy name or the Glovo brand and via the use of a digital platform “It turns out that it is an employer, within the framework of the law on the employment contract (LCT), of workers in respect of whom it does not comply with specific regulations.