Food delivery app Deliveroo has been placed under court supervision for alleged exploitative labour practices.
A court in Milan in Italy has issued a judicial control order under article 34 of the anti-mafia code, meaning the company will be monitored by a judicial administrator, in this case Jean-Paule Castagno.
Deliveroo is accused of 'caporalato', or illegal labour intermediation, having allegedly exploited around 20,000 workers in Italy as a whole and 3,000 in Milan by paying them salaries up to 90% below collective bargaining agreements.
It's alleged 73% of wage samples analysed fell below the poverty threshold of €1,245 (£1,085) gross per month and 86.5% were below the wage levels set forward in the National Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Read More:
- Former ice cream maker in Scotland, 105, honoured at Italy's biggest music festival
- Trussell Trust slammed over deal with Deliveroo
- How to spot a ghost kitchen in Scotland: A consumer’s guide
The Italian constitution states that a worker "shall have the right to remuneration commensurate with the quantity and quality of his work and in any case sufficient to ensure for himself and his family a free and dignified existence".
The 60-page decree signed by prosecutor Paolo Storari found a "substantial prevalence of riders earn an annual income below the poverty line".
Investigators heard testimony from more than 50 delivery drivers.
One of those was Niazi P., who told prosecutors he connects to the app on his phone every morning and makes between 11 and 15 deliveries via e-bike in a day, earning about €4 (£3.49) for each one.
Another, named as Ghafoor, alleges he works 12 hours per day and earns around €1,000 (£872) per month, around a third of which he sends back to his family in Afghanistan.
The decree alleges that workers may feel unable to refuse deliveries as this is counted and monitored on the app and can lead to account blocking or suspension.
The Milan branch of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Labour said that while the workers "appear to be operating independently under a VAT-registered flat-rate tax regime" they are, in practice, employees of Deliveroo and "the entire organisation of the company's operations is based on the IT platform, including the riders' activities" which "imposes consequences for behavior deemed noncompliant, resulting in penalties or even expulsion from the system".
Officers also visited the offices of seven companies, including McDonald's Italia, Burger King Restaurants Italia, and Esselunga SpA, all of which have "contractual relationships" with the delivery giant and "use the same riders to make deliveries".
The sole director of the company, Andrea Giuseppe Zocchi, has been placed under investigation.
Deliveroo Italy is controlled by the American company Doordash, through its UK-based subsidiary Deliveroo Limited. The latter directly controls a smaller stake in Deliveroo Italy; the remainder is controlled through the UK company Roofoods.
A judicial control order is not a punishment but a preventative measure in which the appointed administrator monitors the company’s activities, makes sure its operations are clean and lawful, and helps restore honest management.
The business is allowed to continue trading but is subject to monitoring to ensure none of the alleged unlawful practices are taking place.
A Deliveroo spokesperson said: “We are reviewing the materials we’ve received from the local authorities and are collaborating through the investigation.”
Share