iFood—Brazilian labor court held iFood subsidiarily liable for outsourced delivery driver's unpaid labor debts

Brazil's Tribunal Superior do Trabalho (Superior Labor Court) ruled, in a decision reported September 29, 2026, that iFood can be held subsidiarily liable for the labor debts of a motorcycle courier (motoboy) employed by logistics partner SIS Moto Entregas Express Servicos from March 2019 to November 2020. The worker, who had no formal employment contract and worked 11am-to-midnight shifts without breaks under threat of platform blocking, sued after SIS Moto failed to pay owed wages. The court found that because iFood contracts logistics firms whose core activity is providing delivery labor to iFood, this constitutes illegal outsourcing (terceirizacao) rather than a purely commercial relationship, applying STF Theme 725 and TST Sumula 331. iFood's defense -- that its relationship with SIS Moto was purely commercial intermediation -- was rejected; the rapporteur dissented, arguing the platform-logistics relationship is commercial, not an employment arrangement. The ruling conflicts with an April 13, 2026 decision by the TST's Fifth Panel finding iFood NOT liable in a similar case, leaving the court's position on platform liability for outsourced delivery labor unsettled.