Consequences of Deliveroo for the scope of the Collective Labour Agreement for Professional Freight Transport!

Supreme Court Deliveroo

On 24 March 2023*, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal of 21 December 2021**. This judgment held that Deliveroo delivery staff are employed on the basis of an employment contract and to which the Collective Labour Agreement for Professional Goods Transport applies. This judgment has far-reaching consequences, which I will explain on the basis of a case that I recently conducted at the Court of Northern Netherlands.**

Scope provision of the Collective Labour Agreement for Professional Goods Transport

The scope provision of the Collective Labour Agreement for Professional Goods Transport stipulates that this Collective Labour Agreement applies to all employers and employees of companies that “perform transport requiring a permit under the Road Transport of Goods Act” and/or “perform transport in whole or in part for remuneration, other than persons by road”. An exception applies to companies that fall within the scope of their own collective labour agreement or their own sectoral collective labour agreement.

Practical example

An employee of a company in the North of the country who had worked for many years as a driver and warehouse employee at a company that was exclusively involved in renting out all kinds of items (such as tents, bouncy castles, furniture, toilets, etc.) rang the bell with his employer in vain and demanded back wages on the basis of the CLA for Professional Goods Transport.

The employer took the position that the CLA for Professional Goods Transport did not apply because the transport of goods was not the core activity, which according to the employer was the renting out of goods. In the proceedings it was also argued that most of the time was not spent driving the truck and the van.

The Subdistrict Court was resolute and referred to the Deliveroo judgment. It was established that there was a case of ‘transport for compensation’, because delivery costs were charged. It is not required that the delivery or transport of goods must be the core or main activity. The fact that the delivery costs did not cover costs was also not important. In short, the CAO Beroepsgoederenvervoer applied to this employee in the rental sector.

For the client, this meant that he could claim the outstanding wages retroactively for the previous five years, after there had been some wrangling about the amount of the total wage claim and the question of whether the remuneration should take place on the basis of job scale C or job scale D.

If you, as an entrepreneur or employee, wonder whether the CAO Beroepsgoederenvervoer applies to the employment contract, you can contact us without obligation.

Mr. Otto Lenselink

September 2023

* Supreme Court of the Netherlands dated 24 March 2023, ECLI:NL:HR:2023:443
** Amsterdam Court of Appeal dated 21 December 2021, ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2021:3978
*** District Court of Northern Netherlands judgment 20 December 2022, 11 July 2023, 9781528 CV EXPL 22-1874

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