Is Yassir responsible for the actions of its drivers?

Yassir, the Algerian startup that has managed to raise over a 190 million US dollars in funding, first started as a ride-hailing app and later expanded to cover multiple services including food delivery and B2B transport solutions. As is the case with every new business venture, the legislator has taken some time to come up with regulations that provide a legal framework for these companies.

Multiple legal concerns have risen since Yassirs launch, as is expected when the law is absent, the one covered in this article focuses on the company's liability for the misconduct of its drivers.

The following is an attempt to answer that question in light of the current Algerian legislation, but first, we need to answer a few other questions.

What type of company is Yassir?

At first glance we would think that it's a joint-stock company (or SPA as it’s referred to in the Algerian commercial law) because of the huge investments it's been getting. However, upon closer examination we find that Yassir operates as two distinct entities.

The first is a joint-stock company as is stated in their websites confidentiality charter, and the second is a single-member limited liability company (or EURL as it’s referred to in the Algerian commercial law) and that is when it comes to the company's relations with its drivers and customers.

This use of two different company types may serve many purposes, one of which is the protection of shareholders assets. Since an EURL has only one shareholder, and his shares are the only guarantee for debtors as is stated in article 564 from the Algerian commercial law, this keeps other shareholders safe in the joint-stock company. What this separation serves is to isolate legal disputes involving the drivers and customers in relation to Yassir from the main company.

What is the nature of Yassirs’ services?

Yassir offers many services, such as meals and groceries delivery, in addition to staff transportation solutions, but for the purposes of this article we'll focus on its ride-hailing service. Company officials claim that it offers a car renting service, whereby cars are rented with a chauffeur. This qualification allows the company to avoid registration at the transportation administration, absolving itself of the legal obligations that result from that, such as cars conformity to the legal standards, insurance, and taxes.

It would be more accurate to classify ride-hailing as a transportation service since the primary purpose of using the app is to get rides from one place to another, even if the company doesn't own these cars.

What is the legal qualification for the drivers?

Yassir sometimes uses the term "partner" to refer to its drivers, and other times it uses the term “promoter”. Either way, it avoids using the term “employee” or “worker” in an attempt to avoid being bound by labor laws.

In order to find the proper legal qualification of the drivers, we need to look at their relationship with the company. Drivers can’t make any changes to the contract terms and are subject to termination by Yassir in case of low ratings, or if they’re found to be working with other ride hailing apps. This is a clear form of supervision and subordination.

In the UK, the supreme court has made a decision in 2022 that qualifies UBER drivers as employees, which then forces the company to pay the drivers minimum wage and to provide them with social security. One of the reasons stated for the judgment is the fact that the fare was set in advance by the company and not the driver, which means that it dictated how much drivers can earn.

This reason, among others, made the supreme court determine that the driver-company relationship was one of subordination, making the driver a worker for UBER.

How is Yassir responsible for the actions of its drivers?

Before going back to the question stated in the beginning of this article, we should first point out that Yassir absolves itself from any responsibility towards the users in their relation with its drivers, which is clearly stated in its term of use (article 10.1). It says that in no case is Yassir responsible for the rides, their quality, safety, location or their schedules, on the basis that Yassir acts only as an intermediary, which is the same claim used by UBER.

But building on the previous assertion that Yassir drivers are employees, this makes the company liable for their actions by law, as stated in article 136 from the Algerian civil law, and therefore, it's not possible for Yassir to absolve itself from this responsibility.

We should keep in mind that this new type of gig economy, especially ride-hailing, remains unregulated in Algeria. But we still can't stray away from the general principles of the law, any contract made by the parties isn't binding to judges, article 29 from the civil and administrative procedures law clearly states that the judge isn’t bound by the parties terms, and thus has the authority to categorize any act however he sees fit.

In summary, there’s no specific law that regulates ride-hailing applications such as Yassir, but using the fundamental legal principles found in the Algerian civil law, we can argue for the responsibility of these companies for the misconduct of their drivers.