Australia’s Transport Workers Union kicked off its case against the human cloud food courier Deliveroo yesterday with its claim that one of its riders, whose employment was terminated in April during the pandemic, was not an independent contractor but a casual and so had unfair dismissal protection, reports Australian Financial Review. The case could have a major impact on the gig economy in Australia.  The union said Franco was terminated for completing his deliveries too slowly and the union also argued the termination was a “paradigm case of procedural unfairness” as even on Deliveroo’s own evidence it never had benchmarks for delivery times. The case is being judged by Fair Work Commissioner Ian Cambridge, who previously found a rider at gig company Foodora was not carrying out his own business but was part of the business as an employee. Under a system Deliveroo started in January 2018 but scrapped in December 2019, riders had to log in and book periods of time in particular areas where they could accept work. Once the rider booked in a period they could not change their suburb or hours. However, they could cancel a session with more than 24 hours' notice. Transport Workers Union legal counsel Philip Boncardo argued that this was a “self-serving, self-selective system akin to a shift system”, adding that ‘That is the essence of casual employment’.

Deliveroo argued that even casuals are not allowed to do other work during shifts and this was what Franco did, fielding orders from Doordash and UberEats at the same time as Deliveroo. However, Franco gave evidence that cancelling a shift under the old system without 24 hours' notice would impact on his "statistics" and argued that he wore a Deliveroo uniform and used a Deliveroo insulated bag while working, presenting him as part of the business.