INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Rights for platform workers: Council and Parliament strike deal.
The Council and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on a proposed directive to improve working conditions for platform workers. In the event that the deal struck today is confirmed by both institutions before going through the formal adoption procedure, it will help millions of them gain access to employment rights.
The directive introduces two key improvements: it helps determine the correct employment status of people working for digital platforms and establishes the first EU rules on the use of algorithm systems in the workplace.
Today’s agreement represents a huge step forward for gig workers in the EU. Once confirmed by the Council and the Parliament, it will provide better overall protection for platform workers. In particular it will help ensure that those workers who have wrongly been classified as self-employed have easier access to their rights as employees under EU law.
Correct classification of self-employed workers.
Currently, the majority of the EU’s 28 million platform workers, including taxi drivers, domestic workers and food delivery drivers, are formally self-employed. Nevertheless, a number of them have to abide by many of the same rules and restrictions as an employed worker. This indicates that they are in fact in an employment relationship and should therefore enjoy the labour rights afforded to employees under national and EU law.
The provisional agreement reached with the Parliament today addresses these cases of misclassification and eases the way for such workers to be reclassified as employees. Under the agreement, workers will be legally presumed to be employees of a digital platform (as opposed to self-employed) if their relationship with the platform fulfils at least two out of five indicators set out in the directive. These indicators include:
According to the agreed text, member states may add further indicators to this list as a matter of national law.
In cases where the legal presumption applies, it will be up to the digital platform to demonstrate that no employment relationship exists according to national law and practice.
More transparent use of algorithms.
Digital labour platforms regularly use algorithms for human resources management. As a result, platform workers are often faced with a lack of transparency on how decisions are taken and how personal data is used.
The deal reached with the Parliament ensures that workers are informed about the use of automated monitoring and decision-making systems. It also prevents digital labour platforms from processing certain kinds of personal data by means of automated monitoring or decision-making systems. Such data will include:
personal data on the emotional or psychological state of platform workers
data related to private conversations
data to predict actual or potential trade union activity
data used to infer a worker’s racial or ethnic origin, migration status, political opinions, religious beliefs or health status
biometric data, other than data used for authentication
Under the new rules, these systems need to be monitored by qualified staff, who enjoy special protection from adverse treatment. Human oversight is also guaranteed for significant decisions such as the suspension of accounts.
Next steps
The provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed by the Council and the Parliament. It will then be formally adopted by both institutions following legal-linguistic revision. After the formal steps of the adoption have been completed, member states will have two years to incorporate the provisions of the directive into their national legislation.
The directive introduces two key improvements: it helps determine the correct employment status of people working for digital platforms and establishes the first EU rules on the use of algorithm systems in the workplace.
Today’s agreement represents a huge step forward for gig workers in the EU. Once confirmed by the Council and the Parliament, it will provide better overall protection for platform workers. In particular it will help ensure that those workers who have wrongly been classified as self-employed have easier access to their rights as employees under EU law.
Correct classification of self-employed workers.
Currently, the majority of the EU’s 28 million platform workers, including taxi drivers, domestic workers and food delivery drivers, are formally self-employed. Nevertheless, a number of them have to abide by many of the same rules and restrictions as an employed worker. This indicates that they are in fact in an employment relationship and should therefore enjoy the labour rights afforded to employees under national and EU law.
The provisional agreement reached with the Parliament today addresses these cases of misclassification and eases the way for such workers to be reclassified as employees. Under the agreement, workers will be legally presumed to be employees of a digital platform (as opposed to self-employed) if their relationship with the platform fulfils at least two out of five indicators set out in the directive. These indicators include:
- upper limits on the amount of money workers can receive
- supervision of their performance, including by electronic means
- control over the distribution or allocation of tasks
- control over working conditions and restrictions on choosing working hours
- restrictions on their freedom to organise their work and rules on their appearance or conduct
According to the agreed text, member states may add further indicators to this list as a matter of national law.
In cases where the legal presumption applies, it will be up to the digital platform to demonstrate that no employment relationship exists according to national law and practice.
More transparent use of algorithms.
Digital labour platforms regularly use algorithms for human resources management. As a result, platform workers are often faced with a lack of transparency on how decisions are taken and how personal data is used.
The deal reached with the Parliament ensures that workers are informed about the use of automated monitoring and decision-making systems. It also prevents digital labour platforms from processing certain kinds of personal data by means of automated monitoring or decision-making systems. Such data will include:
personal data on the emotional or psychological state of platform workers
data related to private conversations
data to predict actual or potential trade union activity
data used to infer a worker’s racial or ethnic origin, migration status, political opinions, religious beliefs or health status
biometric data, other than data used for authentication
Under the new rules, these systems need to be monitored by qualified staff, who enjoy special protection from adverse treatment. Human oversight is also guaranteed for significant decisions such as the suspension of accounts.
Next steps
The provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed by the Council and the Parliament. It will then be formally adopted by both institutions following legal-linguistic revision. After the formal steps of the adoption have been completed, member states will have two years to incorporate the provisions of the directive into their national legislation.
