A group of 160 migrant workers in Qatar, scores of whom have been working exclusively for the food delivery service Talabat, have been subjected to wage theft, in some cases going unpaid for as long as 8 months, FairSquare has found. The parent company of Talabat is the German company Delivery Hero.

The men, mostly Ugandans, Ghanaians and Kenyans, are employed by two related companies, Infinity Delivery Services and Infinity Limousine Services...

Two Ugandan Talabat drivers who filed labour complaints about their mistreatment in October were subsequently deported. A further seven men were arrested on 18 January and transferred to the deportation centre. Another Talabat rider died in hospital on 19 January after being involved in an accident. He was continuing to work because – after months of not being paid – the tips that he received from customers represented his only income. 

FairSquare has called on Talabat and its parent company Delivery Hero to pay the men their unpaid salaries. Representatives of both companies have been responsive and have offered support to numerous delivery riders, but despite acknowledging failures in their due diligence processes they have to date refused to pay the men’s salaries, arguing that they have gone “above and beyond their responsibility and duty of care”...