Take Eat Easy · Appeal 17-20.079
Cour de cassation, Social Chamber · 28 November 2018
A bicycle courier signed up as self-employed and chose available delivery slots through an app. When he sought recognition of an employment contract, the appeal court gave considerable weight to his freedom to decide when to work. The courier took the question to France’s highest civil court.
What the app revealed
The lower court had itself found that the platform tracked the rider’s position in real time, recorded the distance travelled and had the power to penalise him. Those findings showed direction and control of the work. The Social Chamber quashed the ruling and sent the case back. It did not calculate an individual wage award or classify every person who accepts work through an app.
How to reconstruct one shift
Compare the sign-up contract with a shift you actually worked. Who set the price? What could the platform see during a delivery? What happened if you declined, arrived late or cancelled? A dated warning or loss of access can show how a written penalty system worked. Evidence of genuine freedom over the work also belongs in that account.
Read the French Court of Cassation judgment
More decisions from France · Explore the European Case Law Journal · Individual consultation times and fees
