Dutch Supreme Court delivers landmark decision: Deliveroo riders are employees

On 24 March 2023, the Supreme Court delivered a long-awaited ruling on the employment status of Deliveroo riders, upholding an earlier decision by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal that Deliveroo riders qualify as employees. In its ruling, the Supreme Court emphasises that all circumstances should be weighed in the assessment of whether an employment agreement exists. Although the riders had a certain freedom to work whenever they wanted and to be replaced by someone else, which are typically elements of a contract for services, all other circumstances lead to the conclusion that the riders were in fact employees. The Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeal rightly and not incomprehensibly attached minor importance to the riders having the possibility to have someone replace them, as in practice they only did so occasionally. The Supreme Court refrains from formulating new general rules for assessing if a worker is self-employed or an employee, as legislation on this topic is currently in the making, at both the national and the European level.