[Spain] Court finds Amazon delivery app violated labour law

A Spanish court has ruled that Amazon broke labour laws by forcing more than 2,000 delivery drivers to use a company-controlled app to schedule work and payments and by requiring them to use their own cars and mobile phones for work, Courthouse News Service reports.

The Madrid labour court decision was released on February 3. It said Amazon could not treat workers using its Flex app as self-employed because the online retailer's Spanish subsidiary “assumes the authority to make all decisions regarding the service, setting the conditions of execution and remuneration, and the circumstances of the day, time and duration” of labour.

Amazon reportedly stopped using the Flex app in Spain in 2021.

The February 3 ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by Spain’s social security body following a labour inspection at an Amazon facility in 2019. The government agency is reportedly seeking to recoup payments that it says Amazon should have made on behalf of the drivers.

Amazon has maintained that Flex was an intermediary platform between freelance delivery workers and clients in Spain, rather than a delivery service in its own right.

“We respect the court ruling, but we disagree and will be filing an appeal,” the retail giant said in a statement, adding that it worked with a range of delivery companies.

“Between 2018 and 2021, we also collaborated with some freelancers through the Amazon Flex program, which accounted for a small percentage of packages delivered in Spain."

The Spanish court decision is only the latest in a series of legal measures in the country, intended to stop e-commerce and delivery app companies from designating workers as self-employed when they have little control over their hours and earnings.

In 2021, Spain’s socialist coalition government passed the “Riders Law,” classifying food delivery riders as employees of the digital platforms they work for.

Spain’s UGT union - which backed the lawsuit - said in a statement, “This is another step forward for jurisprudence as a corrective mechanism for new ways of working” using apps. 

The ruling referenced a 2020 Spanish Supreme Court decision which found that the Barcelona-based food delivery app Glovo was illegally treating “riders” as self-employed.

Spain’s labour ministry reportedly fined Glovo 57 million euros ($62 million) in January for violating the same labour laws. The company has since signed a deal with Madrid’s regional government to deliver food to the city’s most vulnerable people.

Source: Courthouse News Service

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

A Spanish court has ruled that Amazon broke labour laws by forcing more than 2,000 delivery drivers to use a company-controlled app to schedule work and payments and by requiring them to use their own cars and mobile phones for work, Courthouse News Service reports.

The Madrid labour court decision was released on February 3. It said Amazon could not treat workers using its Flex app as self-employed because the online retailer's Spanish subsidiary “assumes the authority to make all decisions regarding the service, setting the conditions of execution and remuneration, and the circumstances of the day, time and duration” of labour.

Amazon reportedly stopped using the Flex app in Spain in 2021.

The February 3 ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by Spain’s social security body following a labour inspection at an Amazon facility in 2019. The government agency is reportedly seeking to recoup payments that it says Amazon should have made on behalf of the drivers.

Amazon has maintained that Flex was an intermediary platform between freelance delivery workers and clients in Spain, rather than a delivery service in its own right.

“We respect the court ruling, but we disagree and will be filing an appeal,” the retail giant said in a statement, adding that it worked with a range of delivery companies.

“Between 2018 and 2021, we also collaborated with some freelancers through the Amazon Flex program, which accounted for a small percentage of packages delivered in Spain."

The Spanish court decision is only the latest in a series of legal measures in the country, intended to stop e-commerce and delivery app companies from designating workers as self-employed when they have little control over their hours and earnings.

In 2021, Spain’s socialist coalition government passed the “Riders Law,” classifying food delivery riders as employees of the digital platforms they work for.

Spain’s UGT union - which backed the lawsuit - said in a statement, “This is another step forward for jurisprudence as a corrective mechanism for new ways of working” using apps. 

The ruling referenced a 2020 Spanish Supreme Court decision which found that the Barcelona-based food delivery app Glovo was illegally treating “riders” as self-employed.

Spain’s labour ministry reportedly fined Glovo 57 million euros ($62 million) in January for violating the same labour laws. The company has since signed a deal with Madrid’s regional government to deliver food to the city’s most vulnerable people.

Source: Courthouse News Service

(Link and quotes via original reporting)