The Italian branch of Deliveroo on Friday said it was raising delivery riders' pay and introducing limits to the time they work in a bid to emerge from judicial supervision for allegedly exploiting them.
    Deliveroo Italia is upping pay from 10 to 14 euros an hour and cutting delivery work times, it told the Milan prtosecutor's office.
    These are some of the commitments made by the delivery platform, formalized to the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, which, the company explains, have received a positive response from Public Prosecutor Paolo Storari.

"These commitments outline a series of concrete measures that Deliveroo will implement, and once verified, the company hopes they will represent an important step toward lifting judicial oversight and closing the criminal investigation," a statement said.
    In March a Milan judge upheld a request from prosecutors to put the Italian branch of Deliveroo under the supervision of a judicial administrator for allegedly exploiting its workers.
    Deliveroo is accused of taking advantage of the need to work of its 20,000 riders in Italy to pay wages that are up to 90% below the poverty line, the prosecutors said, adding that this breached the Italian Constitution, which states that wages must ensure a dignified existence.
    Prosecutors say riders were paid between three and four euros per delivery on average and worked between 10 and 17 hours a day, seven days a week.
    They said that, although the riders worked on a freelance basis, they way they were managed meant that, in reality, they were effectively employees.
    The Italian branch of Deliveroo and its CEO are under investigation.
    In February a judge upheld a similar request for Glovo's Foodinho, which employs around 40,000 people in Italy, for the same reason.
    The cases are the latest in a series of investigations by Milan prosecutors into alleged worker exploitation by delivery, logistics and fashion groups.
    In May the Italian Antitrust Authority opened an investigation into some companies belonging to the Glovo group (Glovoapp23, Foodinho and Glovo Infrastructure Services Italy) and into Deliveroo Italy.
    It said the cases regarded possible misleading information regarding the food-delivery companies' corporate social responsibility commitments towards their riders, given their work conditions, their legal status and the algorithms used to manage them.

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