A coalition of French delivery workers’ advocacy groups has filed a criminal complaint against food delivery platforms Deliveroo and Uber Eats, accusing them of “human trafficking”. They are also threatening Uber Eats with a class action lawsuit for discrimination on behalf of delivery workers, many of whom are immigrants.
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Delivery workers are “completely dependent” on the platforms and “forced to accept any working conditions”, argue the plaintiffs: the Maison des Livreurs (Delivery Workers’ Centre) in Bordeaux, the Maison des Coursiers (Couriers’ Centre) in Paris, and the delivery worker support groups AMAL and Ciel.
The complaint was lodged on Wednesday with the Paris public prosecutor’s office against the British company Deliveroo and the American giant Uber – platforms that “make significant profits by exploiting the vulnerability of these workers”, according to Jonathan L’Utile Chevallier, project coordinator at the Maison des Livreurs in Bordeaux.
Uber Eats said in a statement that it had learned of the complaint through the media, and that it “has no basis”.
Deliveroo, which has agreed in the past to pay raises, said it “strongly contests the allegations” and “firmly rejects any comparison of its business model to exploitation or human trafficking”.
Delivery workers
There are between 70,000 and 100,000 delivery workers in France, according to various estimates. A 2025 survey by Médecins du Monde (MDM) and several research centres, conducted among 1,000 delivery workers, found that 98.8 percent were born abroad and 64 per cent held no residence permit.
Alongside MDM, the associations also issued a formal notice to Uber Eats to cease its “discriminatory practices” or face a class action lawsuit.
They allege discrimination on grounds of economic vulnerability, as well as “algorithmic discrimination”, which their lawyer, Thibault Lafocade, described as the allocation of deliveries and the setting of rates through an opaque automated system.
Should there be “no satisfactory response” within 30 days, the class action will be brought before the Paris judicial court, Lafocade told AFP news agency.
If the platform is found liable, delivery workers will be able to join the suit and receive compensation awarded by a judge, a ruling Lafocade said would set a legal precedent.
(with newswires)
