[EMEA] EU parliament approves platform worker labour law

On April 24, the European Parliament approved a forthcoming law determining when workers on platforms like Uber and Deliveroo should be treated as employees, Yahoo reports.

Platforms have taken the position that these workers are self-employed. This excludes them from some EU labour rights such as paid holidays and sick leave.

The Platform Work Directive would reportedly classify workers on "gig-economy" apps as employees in cases where platforms control factors such as how much workers are paid or their working hours, or electronically monitor performance.

EU legislators approved a draft legal text agreed between negotiators for the parliament and the 27 member states by 554 votes to 56.

Under the new rules, platform workers will be "governed by objective employment conditions," Elisabetta Gualmini - the EU lawmaker from Italy who led the parliament's negotiating team - said.

The legislation would make algorithms used for staffing and HR more transparent to ensure automated systems are monitored by staff. Workers will also be able to contest automated decisions.

"We must not prohibit genuine self-employment, but this is the first time that we are having greater transparency when it comes to algorithms which are used in the platform," Ms Gualmini said in a speech to the parliament.

"It's important. We had someone who actually drowned during an incident and then was informed that he had been dismissed with an automatically generated message - that is, once he had passed away, delivering a pizza."

The deal still reportedly needs the final sign-off from ministers to become law.

The burden of proof to demonstrate that workers are not employees will be on the digital platform.

Source: Yahoo

(Quotes via original reporting)

On April 24, the European Parliament approved a forthcoming law determining when workers on platforms like Uber and Deliveroo should be treated as employees, Yahoo reports.

Platforms have taken the position that these workers are self-employed. This excludes them from some EU labour rights such as paid holidays and sick leave.

The Platform Work Directive would reportedly classify workers on "gig-economy" apps as employees in cases where platforms control factors such as how much workers are paid or their working hours, or electronically monitor performance.

EU legislators approved a draft legal text agreed between negotiators for the parliament and the 27 member states by 554 votes to 56.

Under the new rules, platform workers will be "governed by objective employment conditions," Elisabetta Gualmini - the EU lawmaker from Italy who led the parliament's negotiating team - said.

The legislation would make algorithms used for staffing and HR more transparent to ensure automated systems are monitored by staff. Workers will also be able to contest automated decisions.

"We must not prohibit genuine self-employment, but this is the first time that we are having greater transparency when it comes to algorithms which are used in the platform," Ms Gualmini said in a speech to the parliament.

"It's important. We had someone who actually drowned during an incident and then was informed that he had been dismissed with an automatically generated message - that is, once he had passed away, delivering a pizza."

The deal still reportedly needs the final sign-off from ministers to become law.

The burden of proof to demonstrate that workers are not employees will be on the digital platform.

Source: Yahoo

(Quotes via original reporting)