"I'm considered a good rider for this long period of time,"Mr Franco said."This partnership has been good for both sides. They should give me a call or[get a] manager to investigate first,but they send this termination letter."
Workers for online platforms such as Uber Eats are largely classified as independent contractors,who mostly do not have access to the same protections as employees such as unfair dismissal,sick leave and the minimum wage.
The Transport Workers'Union has helped a number of gig economy workers take unfair dismissal claims to the Fair Work Commission,arguing they should be classified as employees rather than contractors.
Loading
However,the results have been mixed. The commission last month foundan Uber Eats driver was a contractor,while in 2018 it ruled a rider for Foodora,which has since withdrawn from Australia,was an employee.
A Deliveroo spokeswoman said the company was"empathetic"to Mr Franco's concerns but his access to the platform was terminated because many of his deliveries took"significantly longer to reach our customers than we expected".
In the months before his termination,the spokeswoman said,Deliveroo notified Mr Franco twice about delivering meals later than other riders in the same area.