63 hours a week. €1,480 gross a month. No paid leave, no unemployment insurance, no effective minimum wage.

That is the average working life of a food delivery driver in France, according to a 2025 study — and now four advocacy groups want prosecutors to call it human trafficking.

On Wednesday, four delivery worker associations filed a criminal complaint with the Paris public prosecutor against Deliveroo and Uber Eats. The charge: “traite d’êtres humains” — trafficking in human beings.

This is not a labor dispute. It is a criminal allegation, and the distinction is the entire point.

A New Legal Strategy

Lawyer Thibault Laforcade, representing the associations, described the filing as unprecedented in France. His argument: the platforms’ economic model depends on workers who have no genuine alternative. “From the moment the economic system has drawn on a workforce that has no other choice but to accept conditions that no other human being could accept, only the courts can put an end to it,” Laforcade told France Info.

The trafficking framing moves gig-economy exploitation from the domain of labor inspectors and administrative fines into criminal court. If prosecutors pursue the case and judges concur, the consequences for platform economics would extend well beyond civil penalties.

The plaintiffs are the Maison des Livreurs in Bordeaux, the Maison des Coursiers in Paris, and the support groups AMAL and Ciel.

Follow the Money

The business model is straightforward. Platforms take a commission on each order while classifying riders as independent contractors, shifting nearly all operational risk — equipment, insurance, downtime — onto the worker. Margins depend on keeping per-delivery costs as low as the algorithm will bear.

Jonathan L’Utile Chevallier, project coordinator at the Maison des Livreurs, told AFP the platforms “make significant profits by exploiting the vulnerability of these workers.” He cited drivers covering 15 to 20 kilometers by bicycle for as little as €3 net per hour.

Deliveroo counters that it applies an April 2023 agreement “guaranteeing couriers a minimum hourly income of €11.75.” The plaintiffs say that figure is theoretical: algorithmic allocation of deliveries and opaque rate-setting make actual earnings far lower and unpredictable.

A Workforce With Few Options

The demographics are stark. A 2025 survey by Médecins du Monde and several research centers, polling 1,000 workers, found that 98.8 percent were born abroad and 64 percent held no residence permit.

Researcher Marwân-al-Qays Bousmah of the National Institute of Demographic Studies told France Info that roughly two-thirds of Paris drivers rent an auto-entrepreneur account from a third party just to work — a practice that excludes them from even the thin social protections available to registered independents.

More than half of surveyed drivers reported a workplace accident. Six in ten described experiencing discrimination. Health effects documented in the study include musculoskeletal disorders, genitourinary problems from prolonged cycling without toilet access, and significant depressive symptoms.

The Platforms Respond

Uber Eats said it had learned of the complaint through the media and that it “has no basis.” Deliveroo said it “strongly contests the allegations” and “firmly rejects any comparison of its business model to exploitation or human trafficking.”

A Second Front

Alongside the criminal complaint, the associations and Médecins du Monde issued formal notice to Uber Eats to cease “discriminatory practices” — including what Laforcade calls “algorithmic discrimination” in delivery allocation and rate-setting — or face a class-action suit within 30 days. If the platform is found liable, riders could join and receive court-awarded compensation, a ruling Laforcade said would set a legal precedent.

What Comes Next

France has between 70,000 and 100,000 delivery workers, depending on the estimate. An EU directive on platform work, designed to enable collective legal action, is advancing through implementation. But L’Utile Chevallier says repeated studies and warnings have not changed platform behavior, fueled by what he called “a sense of total impunity.”

The Paris prosecutor must now decide whether to open a formal investigation. If the case proceeds, it will test whether criminal law can reach a business model governed, until now, mostly by the fine print of terms of service.

Sources