The Work inspection narrows the fence on the labor model of Glovo and toughens its sanctions in the face of the repeated use of delivery men as fake self-employed. The ‘labor police’ have drawn up a report and imposed a sanction of €2.06 million to the home delivery company for employing 351 riders fraudulently in Girona, Tarragona Y lleida, as confirmed by knowledgeable sources to EL PERIÓDICO. This is the first action that transcends a series of inspections in all the Spanish provinces where Glovo is active and will be notified in the coming months. This operation is called to be the largest action against false self-employed in the recent history of Spain and the final amount of it could be around €100 million. From the company, to questions from this medium, they have declined to make statements.
The offices of the provincial headquarters of the Labor Inspection have spent months carrying out the laborious task of collecting and crossing thousands of data from delivery men who at one time or another in recent years have taken orders through the Glovo application. A few years ago there was a cascade of inspections of what could be called the first generation of actions on the Glovo labor model. Barcelona, Madrid, Zaragoza… the capitals followed one another leaving the same result: their ‘riders’ operated as false self-employed. And the Supreme Court ruled in the same sense.
Now the Inspection enters a second generation of actions, whose breaches will be much more expensive for Glovo. The main difference is that the first time the ‘labor police’ limited themselves to issuing requirements. That is, to demand that Glovo pay what had been saved until then employing their ‘riders’ as false self-employed and not as employees. And that the Security Social had ceased to contribute, also to the detriment of the ‘riders’, with less social protection (neither holidays paid, nor provision of unemployment, among others). Now to these requirements are added the sanctions for repeated non-compliance, which multiplies the final bill that the company founded by Oscar Pierre in 2014 and that since the early morning of December 31, 2021 it is majority owned by the German giant Delivery Hero.
As data, according to the information to which this medium has had access, of the 2.06 million that Glovo must pay to Social Security, only 419,918.18 euros correspond to pending contribution requirements and the rest are sanctions for repeated non-compliance. . The 351 ‘riders’ detected as false self-employed in Girona, Lleida and Tarragona represent only the tip of the iceberg of what is called to be the largest operation of the Labor Inspection to date.
In Barcelona, according to this medium, the figure handled by the provincial leadership and whose record could be closed very soon is around 8,600 delivery men. At the rate of a fine – we will have to see what the requirement adds up to – of 4,689 euros per ‘rider’, the amount of service would be 40.3 million euros only in the Catalan capital. Barcelona is the stronghold of Glovo, where its first delivery men began to pedal and where it maintains the largest operation. Throughout Spain, according to sources familiar with the sector, Glovo’s fleet of autonomous ‘riders’ could be around 16,000 troops.
Contempt for the ‘rider law’
The pulse between the Ministry of Labor and Glovo has been discreet but manifest since August 12, 2021, when the baptized as ‘law rider’. According to it, all digital platform distributors must operate as salaried workers and the rest of the ‘delivery’ companies that maintained their operations in Spain complied with it. Deliveroo he made calculations and decided to leave because it didn’t pay to comply with the law, Uber Eats moved to the model of subcontracted fleets and JustEat -which never managed to operate with freelancers- has begun to contract directly a large part of its fleet.
But Glovo decided to maintain its self-employed operation and only has those ‘riders’ from the ‘groceries‘, that is, they distribute products from their ghost supermarkets. He changed part of his relations with self-employed distributors, liberalizing rates and eliminating the prior assignment of working hours, but maintaining the app and the algorithm as the axis of its relationship with the ‘riders’. This last one is the main argument that both the Inspection and the Supreme Court have identified as the origin of the delivery man’s subordination to Glovo and that has not changed until now.
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The inspections of Girona, Tarragona and Lleida have not yet evaluated Glovo’s behavior after the entry into force of the ‘rider law’ and their data is sent to operations until August 11, 2021. However, sources familiar with the inspection actions affirm that the investigations into the last year of Glovo’s operations are already underway and that once they are concluded – which may take several months or more than a year – they will decide whether or not to add greater sanctions. to the balance sheets of the signature of the yellow backpacks.
The minutes of the Inspection are appealable and Glovo can challenge them before the courts, which, if they end up ratifying the inspection decision -as they have done unanimously until now- would delay the payment by the company. However, the high amount can cause problems in Glovo’s operating account. From the leadership of Delivery Hero, the German delivery giant in Europe that has almost 90% of Glovo’s property, they signed a commitment to adapt the company’s work model to comply with current legislation. As a necessary condition for the Government to approve its purchase, which was formally closed this past July 4.