'Booted off the app': Deliveroo driver challenges dismissal

A Deliveroo driver is challenging his sacking in an expansion of the fight over whether workers in the gig economy should be entitled to unfair dismissal protections, the minimum wage and superannuation payments.

Diego Franco, the sole income earner for his wife and 11-month-old daughter, delivered food via motorbike for the company for about three years until he was dismissed last month with seven days' notice.

Diego Franco, a Deliveroo rider, says he has found it very difficult surviving without the platform during a pandemic.Credit: Rhett Wyman

"I'm considered a good rider for this long period of time," Mr Franco said. "This partnership has been good for both sides. They should give me a call or [get a] manager to investigate first, but they send this termination letter."

Workers for online platforms such as Uber Eats are largely classified as independent contractors, who mostly do not have access to the same protections as employees such as unfair dismissal, sick leave and the minimum wage.

The Transport Workers' Union has helped a number of gig economy workers take unfair dismissal claims to the Fair Work Commission, arguing they should be classified as employees rather than contractors.

However, the results have been mixed. The commission last month found an Uber Eats driver was a contractor, while in 2018 it ruled a rider for Foodora, which has since withdrawn from Australia, was an employee.

A Deliveroo spokeswoman said the company was "empathetic" to Mr Franco's concerns but his access to the platform was terminated because many of his deliveries took "significantly longer to reach our customers than we expected".

In the months before his termination, the spokeswoman said, Deliveroo notified Mr Franco twice about delivering meals later than other riders in the same area.

Mr Franco said he had not received an email from the company warning him about his performance prior to his termination and he had not been late except when restaurants caused the delay.

The TWU, which is supporting Mr Franco, argues the laws are unfair to gig economy workers who have little ability to build their own businesses on the platforms in the same way as traditional contractors such as tradespeople.

"Diego and thousands of food delivery riders like him have been hailed as the heroes of the pandemic, allowing restaurants to stay open and people to self-isolate," TWU assistant national secretary Nick McIntosh said. "But this is really a lie if he can be sacked by an anonymous email stating in seven days he'll be booted off the app."

The TWU is planning to appeal the commission's Uber Eats decision.

The commission rejected former Uber Eats driver Amita Gupta's unfair dismissal claim, saying she was not an employee of the company because she controlled her own working times and could work for other food delivery platforms.

Mr McIntosh said the cases were different. While Mr Franco had used multiple apps for food delivery work, which is a marker of being an independent contractor, that was more akin to a casual worker with shifts at different companies, he said.