Coimbra, Portugal, Jan. 10, 2025 (Lusa) - In two separate rulings, the Coimbra Court of Appeal recognised that two Glovo couriers in Viseu were employees of the company, rejecting the food delivery app's claims.
The decision comes after the Viseu Court recognised, in one of the cases, an employment contract for an indefinite period between June 2021 and December 2023 (when the courier left that activity), and, in another, an employment contract from October 2023.
In two rulings published in December 2024 and consulted by the Lusa agency, the Coimbra Court of Appeal confirms the decisions of the Viseu Court, which came about after inspections by the Labour Conditions Authority (ACT) at a fast food restaurant.
Glovo claimed that it operated an app and not a "work organisation platform", considering that the couriers did not provide services solely to the company, did not depend on the income from those services, there was no power of management and there was no control over the workers' geolocation.
In the rulings consulted by the Lusa news agency, the judges of the Coimbra Court of Appeal said that in order to carry out its business, Glovo uses couriers, who do not have their own business organisation, and have to accept the terms and conditions of its platform, with the company dictating the remuneration for each service, without any kind of prior negotiation with the workers.
Glovo negotiates prices with the restaurants and the end consumer, controls and supervises the couriers' work in real-time, and can record calls made by the workers on duty.
The Court of Appeal judges considered whether the courier and Glovo had a subordinate employment relationship.
Although the company claims that the courier is free to choose where, when and for how long he wants to be connected to the app, the Court considered that this was not a case of a contract for the provision of services but of subordinate labour, noting that the way of working itself has undergone "profound changes" in recent years.
According to the ruling, Glovo's relationship with the courier confirms the various points associated with recognising an employment contract. This is according to a new paragraph of the Labour Code introduced in 2023, which covers work on digital platforms.
In this sense, the Court says that the app has opening hours, the company sets minimum and maximum remuneration limits, exercises management power and determines specific rules, controls the provision of the courier's activity, restricts the courier's autonomy in organising their work, and can exercise disciplinary power over the worker.
"It must be concluded that the presumption of the existence of an employment contract between the activity provider and the defendant [Glovo] has been established," said the Court of Appeal, dismissing the company's appeals and upholding the Viseu ruling, which obliged the multinational to recognise the employment contract with the two couriers.
JGA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
