- The Court of Appeal has found that a moped courier’s ability to release a slot he was unable to undertake to other couriers via an app is not a sufficient right of substitution.
- The case of Stuart Delivery Ltd v Warren Augustine concluded that the Claimant was a worker in accordance with the Employment Rights Act 1996.
- The Claimant could create a Release Notification via the Respondent’s app so that other couriers with the app could fill any unwanted slots.
- The Claimant would not know which courier had taken the slot and was not able to provide the notification to one specified courier.
- If other couriers did not take up the offer, then the Claimant would have to fulfil his obligations and personally perform the services, or face the consequences of missing his slot.
- The courts stated that the app system could not be reasonably described as “an unfettered right to substitution”.
- Furthermore, the Employment Tribunal had found disparities between the written terms and the reality of the operations in practice. There was no reference to a right of substitution.
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