Just Eat and Gophr hit with group claim from delivery drivers and couriers

Law firm Leigh Day launched a claim on 19 April 2023 on behalf of tens of thousands of drivers against online food delivery giant Just Eat and courier service Gophr over their classification of delivery drivers and couriers as independent contractors.

Leigh Day will argue before the High Court that Just Eat drivers are being unlawfully denied workers rights by being classified as independent contractors. This means they are stripped of entitlements that come with full-time work, such as holiday pay and the national living wage.

The law firm will argue that tens of thousands of workers who are couriers for Just Eat as well as Gophr (a delivery company that drops off packages for companies including Hello Fresh, Itsu and Asda) should be entitled to compensation after being unlawfully denied workers’ rights.

‘Working as part of the gig economy should not mean you are not paid a fair wage, yet time and time again this is what we are hearing from people who reach out to us for help’, said Nigel Mackay, a partner in the employment team at Leigh Day. ‘We will work to ensure that Just Eat and Gophr couriers are treated fairly.’

Leigh Day’s claim will argue that the way both Just Eat and Gophr operate means that their delivery drivers and couriers should fall under the category of workers rather than contractors, and that they should therefore be afforded all the rights that come with that status.

A Just Eat spokesperson said that the company uses an independent contractor system to give its drivers flexibility.

‘Under a self-employed system, couriers are able to accept deliveries that work for them’, the spokesperson said. ‘We remain committed to providing a model that works for couriers, and take any concerns raised by couriers on our network seriously.’

Seb Robert, the founder and chief executive of Gophr, said the couriers who use its platform ‘are self-employed. If any of the couriers have concerns we would be happy to take a look at them, but none have been raised to us yet by Leigh Day’.

The class action follows a similar claim in which Leigh Day won workers’ rights for Uber drivers in 2021. The UK Supreme Court ruled in February 2021 that the drivers are ‘workers’ for the company for purposes of employment legislation, rather than independent contractors hired by passengers. That entitles them to minimum wage guarantees and other protection.

Uber said following the decision that all drivers would get at least the national minimum wage, a pension plan with contributions made by the company and an extra 12.07% added to their earnings every two weeks ‘to reflect their right to paid holiday’.

Leigh Day also represented some claimants in a case brought by Amazon employees against the tech giant in a similar dispute for workers’ rights.

A tribunal in March 2023 rejected an application by Amazon.com Inc to thwart the delivery drivers’ attempt to win employment rights by proving that they are employees and not independent contractors.

Employment Judge Frances Spencer ruled that the drivers, who ostensibly work as self-employed contractors for delivery companies which are contracted by Amazon but claim that they are its de facto employees, should have their case laid out in full before a tribunal.

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