The Highest Court of Appeal in France Ruled that the Sharing Economy Take Eat Easy’s Riders are Employees.

The sharing economy Take Eat Easy used an online platform to connect restaurants, users who wanted to order meals and riders to deliver food to the users of the platform. Since the beginning of Take Eat Easy operations, the riders developed their activity under the status of independent contractors. In 2016, a rider required to the conseil de prud’hommes to have its employment status recognised. His requirement was denied and he appealed to the Cour de Cassation, which overruled the decision by holding that (1) the system of geolocation allowing the real-time monitoring of the position of the rider (2) the control of the total number of kilometers rode by the riders and (3) the sanctions applied to the riders in some particular cases demonstrated that Take Eat Easy had powers of direction and control over its contractors. Direction and control are typical aspects of an employment relationship. The decision sets a precedent to all similar sharing economies in France.