On January 27, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal issued its long-awaited ruling in the “Uber” case. As in the earlier Deliveroo case, the central question in this case was whether drivers who drive via the Uber platform should be considered employees or independent contractors.
In its ruling, the Court found that the drivers do not have an employment contract with Uber because there is a high degree of entrepreneurship involved. The Court emphasized, among other things, that many drivers determine their own working hours, have multiple clients, make their own investments, and bear the commercial risks themselves. Although it is not impossible that individual drivers could be classified as employees, the Court found that there was insufficient data to classify specific groups of drivers as employees.
The consequence of this ruling is that it is not possible to judge at a collective level that all drivers are employees. The practice is too diverse for this. With its ruling, the Court once again confirms that the employment relationship must be assessed on an individual basis. The question now is how the Tax and Customs Administration will respond to this, given that such an individual approach is very time-consuming.
If you need help assessing an employment relationship or have questions about this ruling or the upcoming legislation, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.