Keeta delivery workers demand answers after some suspended from duties amid Hong Kong crackdown on illegal labour
Hong Kong Free Press
Workers for food-delivery giant Keeta have called for the company to provide answers after many were suspended from duties following a police crackdown on illegal delivery workers in the city.
Delivery workers, most of them “walkers,” were locked out of their accounts last month on suspicion of working illegally, the Riders’ Rights Concern Group told reporters in early August. The wave of suspensions, affecting some 200 delivery workers for Keeta, came after police arrested 44 people for working illegally as food delivery workers or for assisting them.
Keeta on Friday confirmed that it had mistakenly suspended some delivery accounts in response to the police operations, and apologised to workers affected in the process. It did not say whether delivery workers would be compensated for wages lost, nor did it say how many workers were affected.
One worker, who gave his name as Lam, told reporters he was locked out of his account on the evening of July 24. He was not notified that Keeta’s system had detected “unusual activity” from his account, but not what it was.
Lam attached a message along with his appeal request to the company: “Why did my account get locked? Many people were suspended at the same time, clearly there’s something wrong with your system. I haven’t been working for other companies, nor have I been late [on deliveries].”
After Keeta twice denied his requests to appeal the suspension, he visited street stalls set up by the delivery company, hoping to seek assistance, and sent two emails asking for an official explanation. Neither were answered.
Lam found out from out from Keeta employees at the booth that he had been suspended for logging into his account on two different devices, which the app may have considered an attempt to share an account with multiple people, the concern group said.
Lam told reporters he had never shared his account.
Wages lost
Lam said he could make HK$1,200 a day, at around HK$30 per order delivered, meaning that by the time his account was reinstated two days after the suspension, he had missed out on approximately HK$3,000, including the bonus for which delivery workers are eligible if they clock in for at least six days a week.
Lam and other delivery workers, along with the concern group, visited Meituan’s Hong Kong offices in Causeway Bay earlier this month to submit a letter demanding an explanation for the suspensions.
They urged the company to provide evidence of non-compliance regarding accounts that were still suspended, and to reinstate those accounts suspended without cause.
They also called for a public explanation for the suspensions, and measures ensuring that similar incidents would not occur in the future. The group urged Keeta to compensate workers for lost wages when accounts were suspended.
Some workers were suspended for a week, while others were still locked out of their accounts when reporters met delivery workers and the concern group on August 7.
Since delivery workers are generally considered self-employed under Hong Kong law, they are not entitled to arrears such as payment in lieu of notice.
“One can quite definitively say that the Labour Department cannot help. All the company has to do is say that the workers are self-employed,” said Justine Lam of the concern group, part of the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, a non-governmental pressure group.
In an emailed reply to HKFP, the Labour Department said the government “attaches great importance to the protection for digital platform workers.”
“If there are employees who suspect that they are deprived of their statutory employment rights and benefits, they can provide information to the Labour Relations Division branch offices of the Labour Department for appropriate assistance,” it said.
Line Siu, Keeta’s senior operations manager, received the letter from the group, but did not provide a direct answer when asked if Keeta would meet the delivery workers for a discussion.
Keeta, which entered Hong Kong in May 2023, secured a majority market share in the first quarter of 2024, securing 44 per cent of the city’s food delivery market by order volume.
Illegal labour
The concern group said it suspected that delivery workers had been suspended from duties after Keeta erroneously flagged them as illegal workers, based on back-end data showing that they were switching their accounts between devices.
In a reply to HKFP, the delivery giant said it froze accounts it believed could “potentially” have been lent to others, “in order to protect the rights of legitimate delivery workers.” The suspensions were made in accordance with anti-illegal labour operations launched by the Hong Kong police, it said.
“Delivery workers who have doubts about the relevant arrangements may lodge complaints through the platform’s appeal mechanism. After several rounds of review, it was confirmed that some of the accounts did not pose any risk and the platform lifted the restriction immediately,” Keeta said.
“[Keeta] apologises that the review process has affected some of our compliant couriers. We will continue to keep the appeal mechanism open and welcome any well-substantiated complaints from affected couriers,” it added.
The suspensions came after police arrested 44 people in an operation against illegal workers, including seven who were arrested for providing their accounts to the alleged illegal workers.
Thirty-seven were arrested on suspicion of driving an unregistered vehicle, driving without a valid licence, and driving without valid third party insurance, while 36 were holding temporary identification documents barring them from working in Hong Kong.
Keeta’s guidelines list sharing accounts as a cause for account suspension or termination of a delivery worker’s independent contractor agreement. However, that was not stated as the reason for Lam’s suspension. He also did not receive a reminder via the Keeta platform before his suspension, as stipulated in the service guidelines.
The suspensions were a side-effect of Keeta’s attempts to fall in line with labour laws amid a citywide crackdown on illegal labour, said programme officer Lam.
Another food delivery provider, Deliveroo, announced last week that sharing accounts would no longer be allowed.
Deliveroo said in a statement it had been working with local authorities to “improve the security of our rider network and prevent unauthorised access to rider accounts.” Under new regulations, only the account holder can make deliveries, it said.
The Labour Department has commissioned the Census and Statistics Department to conduct a survey on the working conditions of platform workers. It is expected to start late this year, with results released in late 2024 to early 2025.
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