Gig economy delivery – Photo by Mizuno K on Pexels
(STRASBOURG) – The EU Council and European Parliament reached a provisional deal Thursday on a bill aiming to improve the working conditions of persons performing platform work.
According to 2021 figures from the Commission, there were more than 500 digital labour platforms active in a sector employing more than 28 million people – a figure expected to reach 43 million by 2025. Currently, at least about 5.5 million of these workers’ work may be wrongly classified as self-employed (known as bogus self-employment), meaning that they are missing out on important labour and social protection rights.
The aim of the Platform Work Directive is to ensure that people performing platform work have their employment status classified correctly and to correct bogus self-employment. The agreed text also introduces first-ever EU rules on algorithmic management and the use of artificial intelligence 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 in place, as well as taking into account the case law of the European Court of Justice.
The directive obliges EU states to establish a ‘rebuttable’ legal presumption of employment at national level, aiming to correct the imbalance of power between the platform and the person performing platform work. By establishing an effective presumption, member states will make it easier to correct bogus self-employment.
Importantly, the burden of proof lies with the platform, meaning that when the platform wants to rebut the presumption, it is up to them to prove that the contractual relationship is not an employment relationship.
Undeer the rules, it will not be possible for a person performing platform work to be fired or dismissed based on a decision taken by an algorithm or an automated decision-making system. Instead, platforms need to to ensure human oversight on important decisions that directly affect the persons performing platform work.
Platform workers will receive extra protection in the field of data protection. Platforms will be forbidden to process certain types of personal data, such as on personal beliefs and private exchanges with colleagues.
Further information, European Parliament
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
EP-briefing: Improving the working conditions of platform workers
