Delivery company Wolt decided to appeal against the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court, which determined the status of its couriers as employees, not entrepreneurs, said the company in a press release on Wednesday.
The court in a ruling in May this year clarified the status of the couriers of Wolt as employees, said the company, claiming that the couriers should be able to decide their status by themselves.
Wolt also said that it found inconsistencies in the court ruling, in terms of the application of the law and the legal procedure.
The company said that the court made the decision without considering a case between the European Court of Justice and the UK delivery firm Yodel and applying to overturn the court´s decision.
It said that the legal status of platform work in Finland remains unclear and called for clear legislation.
Meanwhile, the Service Union United (Palvelualojen ammattiliitto-PAM) on Wednesday said that Wolt is trying to avoid complying with the decision, said PAM in a press release.
“The Supreme Administrative Court’s decision did clarify the status of couriers. According to the ruling, couriers are in an employment relationship. By applying for the decision to be overturned, Wolt is in fact delaying the clarification of couriers’ status and appears to be avoiding compliance with the decision,” said Annika Rönni-Sällinen, president of the PAM.
“We too have been waiting for the EU platform work directive to be implemented into Finnish legislation. The starting point of the directive is that the contractual relationship between a digital platform that mediates work and the person performing the work should legally be presumed to be an employment relationship,” said Rönni-Sällinen.
Wolt states that the decision by the court could have broad implications for almost all platform-based work. It says it will continue looking into how courier work within an employment relationship, but outside the scope of the Working Hours Act, could be implemented alongside entrepreneurship, said PAM, adding that according to Wolt, this requires close cooperation and dialogue with different authorities.
“After the court ruling, we informed Wolt that we can solve issues in the collective agreement in a way that allows operations to continue under an employment relationship while taking both parties’ interests into account,” said the PAM President.
“A major problem in platform-based work is that the business model seems to rely on the fact that the actual worker’s compensation is substandard. The operations seem to be financially barely viable or even unprofitable – except for those in management positions,” Rönni-Sällinen added.
- Wolt
- Appeal
- Against
- Court
- Verdict
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
