Information of interest: PedidosYa recommends its delivery workers to sign that they are self-employed while facing lawsuits

PedidosYa recently sent a message titled "Information of Your Interest" to its delivery workers in Uruguay, featuring a siren icon. The text does not inform about increases, improvements in conditions, or rights. It invites them to subscribe to an agreement to "ratify" that they choose the self-employed model according to the Digital Platform Workers Law No. 20.396.

The timing is not innocent. The company is facing a series of labor lawsuits from delivery workers who worked for years on the platform and claim that there was a dependent relationship. In these lawsuits, they are seeking items that they never received: Christmas bonus, leave, vacation pay, overtime, and, in several cases, severance. Since these claims cover several years, many exceed a million pesos. There are already first-instance rulings in opposing directions: some recognized subordination (including one that ordered payment of nearly $1.88 million plus future penalties) while others rejected it. The issue remains open in appeals. The principle of the primacy of reality (and ILO Recommendation 198) requires looking at the facts and not just the paper that people signed.

The List of Lawyers

The message states that if the delivery worker decides to sign, "they should seek advice from a lawyer." Immediately following is a list of professionals with their cell numbers, presented as "independent advisors not affiliated with PedidosYa." The company clarifies that these lawyers "expressed their willingness" for their contacts to be shared.

Here lies the underlying problem. A company that has an open conflict with part of its workers is the one that chooses, disseminates, and recommends the lawyers who should advise them on that same conflict. The delivery worker is referred to them by the opposing party, with a clear objective from the company: to confirm in writing that they were never employees and to reduce the risk of million-dollar claims.

There are unanswered questions that the message does not address: how was the list compiled?, who pays the fees of these lawyers?, what prior relationship do they have with the company?, does anyone explain to the delivery workers how much they could claim in a lawsuit before signing?

What is Signed and What Can Be Lost

In Uruguayan labor law, the principle of non-waivability applies: the worker cannot validly renounce their rights. However, a signed document can be used against them in a lawsuit, and most delivery workers are unaware of this. Signing "I ratify that I am self-employed" does not automatically convert the relationship into a self-employed one if there was subordination in practice (algorithmic control of orders, rankings, sanctions, unilateral assignment of work, etc.). Law 20.396 does not require classifying the relationship as self-employed: it states that it can be dependent or self-employed and mandates analyzing the reality.

The message concludes by stating that the list "is a suggestion" and that the delivery worker "can choose to hire any lawyer they trust." This is the only part of the text that is truly of interest to the worker: before signing any paper sent by the company, they should consult a lawyer of their choosing, not one recommended by the party with which they are in conflict.

PedidosYa has every right to defend its model. What is questionable is presenting its own workers, amid million-dollar claims for unpaid items, with a list of lawyers selected by the company to confirm that they were never employees.