Presentation
Analysis of the French Supreme Court (Cass. soc.) decision of March 4, 2020, No. 19-13.316
This important decision by the highest court reaffirms that a contract between a worker and a digital intermediary platform can constitute employment. Without introducing any new elements, the court analyzes the reality of the relationship, beyond its outward appearances, using established criteria from labor law case law.
It concludes that the Uber driver is legally subordinate to the platform, which must therefore be considered his employer.
Drivers and intermediation: a relationship distinct from salaried employment or service provision
The case originated with a driver registered as an independent contractor who used the Uber platform, specifically its app that connected him with clients to provide passenger transport services.
After being blocked from accessing the platform for six months, he took legal action seeking to have his contract reclassified as an employment contract and to obtain the corresponding wages and compensation.
Having lost at first instance, but winning on appeal, Uber BV filed an appeal to the Court of Cassation, hoping for a distinction to be made between different intermediary platforms, given the wide variation in their operating conditions and services.
Uber: The status of intermediary platforms
“There is a relationship of subordination between the driver and the company. Therefore, the driver does not perform their service as an independent contractor but as an employee.”
This Wednesday, March 4, the Social Chamber of the Court of Cassation shed new light on the legal framework governing transportation intermediation platforms with regard to labor law.
With this ruling, it upholds a decision by the Paris Court of Appeal from January 2019. The highest court bases its decision on a number of elements demonstrating the relationship of subordination:
- Integration into a transportation service created and entirely managed by the company, preventing the user from building their own clientele, freely setting their own fares, or defining the terms of their transportation service;
- Acceptance of fares and routes set by the platform;
- The obligation to accept rides, with penalties after three refusals, including temporary disconnections, fare adjustments, and account termination for reporting problematic behavior.
Case law: Labor law applicable to transport services
The Court of Cassation has completed the body of case law analyzing and regulating the status of gig workers, particularly in the transportation and delivery sector.
One example is the ruling of November 28, 2018, which reclassified the contract of a delivery driver for the “Take Eat Easy” platform. The global ride-hailing giant Uber was bound to follow suit.
The consequences of this ruling are significant for the business model of platform operators. It also represents a boon for the 30,000 ride-hailing drivers in France who use the platform, especially given the legal action taken by over a hundred drivers in Lyon against Uber.
The question of the intermediate status between self-employment and salaried work, as it exists in Italy and the United Kingdom, is more relevant than ever. The government hoped to offer a way out through the drafting of social charters, but the Constitutional Council struck down this provision last December.
It clarified that “While, in principle, workers connected to a platform that has established a charter carry out their activity independently within the framework of the commercial relationship established with it, it is up to the judge, in accordance with the Labor Code, to reclassify this relationship as an employment contract when it is in reality characterized by the existence of a legal relationship of subordination.”
This decision should also be considered in light of recent Californian legislation on the matter, which, as a reminder, included gig workers in the definition of salaried employment.
Find more information on Californian law as well as our training courses on the legal framework for intermediary platforms.
