Gig economy delivery – Photo by Mizuno K on Pexels
(STRASBOURG) – The EU Parliament gave the go-ahead Wednesday to new rules aiming to improve the working conditions of platform workers including prohibiting the firing of workers on a decision taken by an algorithm.
There are more than 500 digital labour platforms active and the sector employs more than 28 million people, according to Commission 2021 figures, with the figure expected to reach 43 million by 2025. Digital labour platforms are present in a variety of economic sectors, be it on location, such as ride-hailing and food delivery drivers, or online with services such as data encoding and translation. While most platform workers are formally self-employed, about 5.5 million people may be wrongly classified as self-employed.
The new rules aim to ensure that platform workers have their employment status classified correctly and to correct bogus self-employment. They also regulate, for the first time ever in the EU, the use of algorithms in the workplace.
The new law introduces a presumption of an employment relationship (as opposed to self-employment) that is triggered when facts indicating control and direction are present, according to national law and collective agreements, and taking into account EU case law.
The directive obliges EU countries to establish a rebuttable legal presumption of employment at national level, aiming to correct the imbalance of power between the digital labour platform and the person performing platform work. The burden of proof lies with the platform, meaning that it is up to the platform to prove that there is no employment relationship.
The new rules ensure that a person performing platform work cannot be fired or dismissed based on a decision taken by an algorithm or an automated decision-making system. Instead, digital labour platforms must ensure human oversight on important decisions that directly affect the persons performing platform work.
The directive introduces rules that protect platform workers’ data more robustly. Digital labour platforms will be forbidden from processing certain types of personal data, such as data on someone’s emotional or psychological state and personal beliefs.
The agreed text now has to be formally adopted by the Council. After publication in the Official Journal of the EU, member states will have two years to incorporate the provisions of the directive into their national legislation.
