Potential class-action lawsuit takes step forward

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This article was published 02/09/2024 (404 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A potential class-action lawsuit over employment standards for food couriers has taken another step forward in Manitoba.

SkipTheDishes’ latest attempt to block the 2018 lawsuit, which was filed against the company by a former Manitoba delivery driver, was rejected in late August.

Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada decided not to grant leave for SkipTheDishes to appeal a decision from Manitoba’s Court of Appeal. Manitoba’s top court had ruled against SkipTheDishes’s bid to get the legal action tossed and the company then had the right to appeal to the Supreme Court.

On Aug. 29, the Supreme Court released its judgment on the leave application, dismissing it without giving reasons, as is the court’s procedure for such applications.

The decision means the case can continue in Manitoba court, with lawyers for the plaintiff pursuing certification for a class action that could have national implications. They are fighting for employee benefits for the so-called gig workers who deliver food for the Winnipeg-founded company.

The company has tried to stop the potential class action by arguing couriers signed a legal agreement that prevents them from suing. The Manitoba Court of Appeal rejected that argument in January. SkipTheDishes, like Uber, has argued its couriers and drivers are independent contractors, not employees. It required couriers to sign an agreement that prohibited them from taking legal action and instead directed all disputes to arbitration. A similar Supreme Court case involving Uber Eats sided with the couriers in 2020, striking down that arbitration clause for being unfair.

Charleen Pokornik, a former courier for SkipTheDishes, took legal action in 2018 arguing couriers should be entitled to employee benefits. Her lawsuit was put on hold pending the outcome of the Supreme Court case involving Uber Eats, so it is still working its way through the courts six years later.

SkipTheDishes laid off hundreds of corporate and operations employees in late August. It was founded in Winnipeg in 2012, acquired by British company Just Eat in 2016, and merged with Dutch company Takeaway.com in 2020. A corporate restructuring late last month resulted in 800 workers in Canada losing their jobs.