Belgium: Labour Auditor files lawsuit against Deliveroo regarding couriers status under Belgian labour law

On 13 December 2019, the Belgian Labour Auditor filed a lawsuit against Deliveroo in a civil court alleging that the company breached the law on social security of workers by classifying workers who perform services on their behalf as self-employed and denying them the social protections that employees are entitled to. In addition, it was alleged that the company failed to send the declarations justifying the amount of social security contributions due to the National Social Security Office of Belgium. The Labour Auditor argued that the contract between couriers and Deliveroo should be qualified as an employment contract, noting that couriers are obliged to use the Deliveroo application in order to work, which allows the company to follow the workers and verify their work. The Labour Tribunal of Brussels will rule on the case and determine if the workers status is of employees or self-employed.