Glovo faces legal rulings over rider safety and pay in Italy

Glovo and its Italian branch, Foodinho, are facing significant legal challenges regarding the treatment of their approximately 40,000 riders in Italy. A ruling from the Turin Labor Court has established that the company is responsible for providing essential safety equipment and protections. This includes ergonomic footwear, weather-appropriate clothing, access to rest areas, and hydration supplies to mitigate risks from extreme temperatures and physical strain.

Simultaneously, the Milan Prosecutor’s Office is contesting Glovo’s compensation model. Despite recent increases to a minimum of 3 euros per delivery and 14 euros per hour, prosecutors argue the system remains illegal. They claim the company’s opaque algorithm only pays for active delivery time, effectively ignoring roughly 30% of the time riders spend waiting between tasks. This practice reportedly results in hundreds of thousands of unpaid hours.

Prosecutors are calling for the formal recognition of many riders as subordinate employees rather than independent contractors, particularly those performing high volumes of deliveries. In response to these mounting legal obligations and regulatory pressures, Glovo has suggested that such costs may be unsustainable, even threatening to exit the Italian market.