The Assodelivery group — which represents the likes of Uber, Deliveroo, Glovo and JustEat — said they were “surprised” by the prosecutor’s decision.
“The platforms, despite the specific differences, have operated in recent years in compliance with current regulations, including the classification of workers and workplace safety regulations,” the group said in an emailed statement. “We therefore disagree with the picture illustrated today.”
Next steps
Attention will now turn to the platforms, and “whether they will go back to negotiate with the minister of labour and the representative trade unions to try to solve the issue,” said labor law expert Valerio de Stefano.
A negotiated settlement might be the most likely outcome, de Vecchi said.
“I think that at the end of the story there will be a compromise solution that will allow these companies to stay active — probably a limited fine without any criminal prosecution,” said de Vecchi. “But on the other end, they will be forced to change their operational model and to have a different standard in terms of employees’ rights and guarantees.”
The ruling comes off the back of a U.K. supreme court ruling that declared Uber drivers to be “workers” rather than self-employed contractors, as well as a recent Dutch appeals court decision that Deliveroo drivers are employees — signs of changing times in the gig economy.
“What’s for sure is that it is basically more and more clear: we cannot pretend anymore that these people are just genuinely self-employed as if they were small undertakings — they are workers that should be protected as such,” de Stefano said.
Giorgio Leali contributed reporting.