The Lyon justice has given reason to the drivers who claimed that the contract binding them to the American firm be requalified as a employment contract.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
The Lyon Prud’homme Tribunal sentenced Uber to pay nearly 17 million euros to 139 Lyon drivers, Stéphane Teyssier announced, Friday January 20. “We had a fairly historic decision today. Uber was condemned to reclassify the contracts of 139 drivers,” he said, confirming information from the regional daily Progress .
The American firm announced its intention to appeal the decision, which it describes as “isolated”, “in opposition of a decision taken on November 22, 2022”. “Since the judgment of the Court of Cassation to requalify a driver as an employee in March 2020, requests for requalification in wage earners have not succeeded in more than 65 % of the cases,” reacted in the columns of the Lyon grandstand . “This decision comes at the reverse of the position widely shared by the industrial tribunals and the appeal courses which confirm the independence of the VTC drivers using the application, judging in particular that there is no obligation of work, Nor exclusive to Uber or that the drivers remain completely free in the organization of their activity, “continues the company.
rare convictions
In 2020, 139 VTC Lyonnais drivers seized justice so that the contract which linked them to Uber was requalified in employment contract. The industrial tribunals, who made their decision under deliberation, spoke up “on the basis of a well -established jurisprudence of the Court of Cassation of January 2020. The Court of Cassation considered that Uber drivers should be considered as employees . This is not a surprise. It is the logical application of such jurisprudence, “said Stéphane Teyssier.
This is not the first action of this type to be brought by VTC drivers. In 2018, nine of them attacked the platform before the Paris Labor Council. In 2019, the American company for connecting drivers and passengers was condemned to reclassify the commercial contract in employment contract having linked it to an independent driver. A first in France.
The convictions remain rare, however, and it is difficult for VTC drivers to be recognized as employees and to benefit from corresponding social rights.