The Paris Court of Appeal rejected the request for the requalification as an employment contract of the service contract concluded by a delivery person with the Deliveroo platform, considering that neither the clauses of the employment contract nor the terms of execution of the employment relationship characterised the existence of a subordination link. The Paris Court of Appeal took into consideration the fact that the service providers choose their working hours and locations and that they can modify or cancel their wishes. Similarly, with regard to the setting of rates by the platform, the court considered that this point is unrelated to the relationship of subordination insofar as any employee and any service provider accepts or refuses to enter into a contract on the basis of the remuneration proposed by his co-contractor. With regard to the presence of a geolocation device, the judges did not accept the argument raised by the plaintiff, as no hierarchical control was, in their view, characterised by a tool that made it possible to monitor the progress of the service, which was inherent in the service requested. These considerations run counter to the position taken by the Court of Cassation in its judgment of 4 March 2020, particularly on geolocation. Mr X, a self-employed contractor, had brought an action before the labour court requesting the requalification of his contract for the provision of services as a contract of employment and claiming various sums in damages and salary adjustments. A service contract had been signed between Mr X and the company on 8 January 2016. By letter dated 30 March 2017, Deliveroo notified the service provider of the termination of his contract. The complainant brought an action before the Paris industrial tribunal on 11 May 2017 seeking to have the service provision contract reclassified as an employment contract and to have Deliveroo France ordered to pay him various sums in damages and back pay. By judgment of 19 December 2017, the Paris labour court dismissed the parties' claims.
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