EU online workers set to get employee benefits

Brussels — EU legislators agreed provisionally on Wednesday on a bill aimed at giving workers at online companies such as Uber and Deliveroo employee benefits, which if adopted would be a global first.

The new rules will prevent workers being classified wrongfully as self-employed and ineligible for benefits by introducing “presumption of employment”.

Meeting two out of five indicators of control, or direction, will trigger the assumption the worker is employed by the company.

“At least 5.5-million persons performing platform work may be wrongly classified as self-employed ... and are missing out on important labour and social protection rights,” the European Parliament said in a statement.

The rules were originally announced in late 2021. If they are adopted it will be a global first. They are part of a raft of legislation intended to ensure a level playing field between online and traditional businesses.

The proposals had been previously criticised by Delivery Platforms Europe, whose members are Bolt, Deliveroo, Delivery Hero, Glovo, Uber, and Wolt.

The rules will also reduce the use of algorithms in decision making, with human oversight required on issues such as suspension of a worker’s account, or dismissal. It will also give gig workers more insight into how algorithms used by online companies work and how their behaviour affects decisions taken by the systems.

Under the new rules, digital platforms will also be unable to trick the system by using employment intermediaries, as workers performing the service via an intermediary will need to benefit from the same level of protection as those employed directly.

The agreed text must be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council to become law.

Reuters