Deliveroo will have to compensate with 6,251 euros to nine 'riders' whom it dismissed after demanding job improvements

RidersxDerechos, a group to which plaintiffs in this judicial process belong, have reported the judicial victory on social networks. "After four years of struggle we have achieved it," they have highlighted on their Twitter profile. There is no recourse against the Supreme Court's order, so RidersxDerechos sources tell elDiario.es that they expect the multinationality to promptly pay all the amounts owed to these messengers.

The sentence that convicted the company in the first instance, of the social court number 31 of Barcelona, was the first to conclude that a group of various riders they were fake freelancers. That was a starting conclusion of the magistrate, before entering to assess the circumstances of the dismissal reported by those affected. The couriers considered that Deliveroo had "fired" them - terminated their commercial contracts to be able to deliver - as a result of the mobilizations of workers who shortly before demanded improvements in their conditions to the company.

The judge concluded, except for one complainant, that there was a null dismissal in the case of nine of those affected. Deliveroo "fired" the riders justifying in most cases that they had not adhered to new collaboration contracts, but the judge ruled that in reality there are indications that it is a retaliation by the company for the labor protests of the couriers. Given that the company did not dismantle these indications, the magistrate considers that the dismissals were null and that Deliveroo violated the fundamental rights of the couriers.

In the specific case of one of those affected, Deliveroo alleged his dismissal for "drunkenness during the provision of the service," an accusation that "neither has proven nor has he tried to prove in any way," the judge dismantled. In this case, the magistrate pointed out that "the indications of violation of the right to effective judicial protection in its aspect of guarantee of indemnity, the right to freedom of association and the right to strike are abundant: in the weeks prior to the termination of the 04/25/2017 the aforementioned plaintiff had sent the letter in which the company claimed an improvement in the conditions of its relationship with the company, had participated in the mobilizations against business policy and had stood out as a person designated to be a member of the strike committee, attending mediation on its behalf ".

"The distributors, like all workers, should have guaranteed that the circumstance of sending a letter to the company demanding improvements, going out in the press denouncing that they are false self-employed, concentrating on the company, or calling a strike, would not lead to a 'redesign "That implied that either they accepted unilaterally imposed conditions or the relationship was terminated. Since that indemnity has not been guaranteed, but quite the contrary, the qualification of nullity is appropriate," the judge ruled on the majority of those affected.

The nullity of the dismissal implies the condemnation of the company to reinstate the complainants in their positions, with the same conditions prior to the dismissal, as well as to pay them the wages they had not received until the date of the sentence. In total, almost two years.

The ruling also condemned Deliveroo to pay the plaintiffs "amounts for vacation settlement", all of which are increased in the default interest of 10% per annum. The amounts range from 124 to 628 euros.

Finally, it condemned the company to pay those affected by the null and void dismissals "the sum of 6,251 euros as compensation for violation of fundamental rights."