Deliveroo riders to take legal action over compensation as it exits Hong Kong
Sixteen couriers plan to file claims with Labour Tribunal over employee entitlements
A group of couriers said they would file claims against Deliveroo after the food delivery platform failed to give them any compensation as the company exited the Hong Kong market on Monday.
The Riders’ Rights Concern Group said the 16 couriers were among an estimated 12,000 riders who were not given any employee entitlements by Deliveroo, as they were considered self-employed workers.
London-based Deliveroo announced it was closing down in Hong Kong after a nine-year run, with certain assets to be sold to rival Foodpanda.
The platform said in the announcement it had appointed two liquidators and pledged to offer employees an enhanced redundancy payment going beyond statutory requirements.
But the riders’ group said only 200 workers formerly employed by Deliveroo were entitled to the compensation.
“For such a large-scale platform, to our surprise, it did not mention a word about how to handle all of its couriers and only told them to go to Foodpanda, bye-bye,” programme officer Justine Lam said.
About 25 workers had sought help from the group since last month, Lam said. Among them, 16 had filed complaints to the Labour Department and planned to file claims against Deliveroo at the Labour Tribunal next week.