The European Commission will improve the working conditions of platform workers

The European Commission has made a proposal for a new directive to ensure that platform workers have access to the workers’ rights and social benefits that workers are entitled to. In addition, the directive must ensure the platform’s effective exploitation of the economic potential of the internal market.
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The digital platform economy

The digital platform economy, which has made progress in recent years in line with technological development, includes platforms such as JustEat, Wolt and Hungry. Following this development, the European Commission presented a proposal in December to improve the working conditions of platform workers.

The new proposed rules aim to ensure that employees working through digital work platforms have access to employee rights and social benefits. In addition, the common set of EU rules must increase legal rights and enable digital work platforms to fully exploit the economic potential of the internal market and benefit from equal competitive conditions.

Categorization as an employee

The proposed directive involves several control criteria for determining whether a platform is categorized as “employer”. If the platform meets two of these criteria, it will thus be categorized as an employer in the legal sense.

According to the proposed directive, control over the performance of work must be understood as fulfilling at least two of the following conditions.

  • Effectively determine or set upper limits on the level of remuneration;
  • To require the person performing the platform work to respect specific binding rules regarding appearance/clothing, conduct towards the recipient of the service or the performance of the work;
  • To supervise the performance of the work or to verify the quality of the results of the work, including by electronic means;
  • To effectively restrict the freedom, including through sanctions, to organize one’s work, in particular the right to choose one’s working hours or periods of absence, to accept or reject tasks or to use subcontractors or temporary staff;
  • Effectively limit the possibility to build a customer base or perform work for a third party

This will therefore mean that work as part of the platform’s activities will be subject to the employee rights and social rights that come with a status as an “employee”.

It applies with an “employee” status:

  • Right to collective bargaining
  • Right to receive unemployment benefits and sickness benefits
  • The rules for working hours and health protection
  • The right to paid vacation
  • Improved access to protection against work accidents

Algorithmic control

The proposed directive also aims to increase transparency in digital work platforms’ use of algorithms, ensure human control over the algorithms, so that working conditions are complied with, and give the right to contest automatic decisions.

Enforcement and transparency

In addition, the Commission’s proposal will clarify the existing obligations to report work to national authorities. The platform must i.e. make important information about their activities and the people who work through them available to the national authorities.

Read the entire proposal for a directive here. For a Danish context, the directive will i.e. have the consequence that platform workers will in most cases be characterized as employees.

If you have questions about the proposed directive and how it will affect you, please do not hesitate to contact our employment law specialists, Partner, Attorney Michael Møller Nielsen, Attorney Julie Flindt Rasmussen, Attorney David Bar-Shalom or Assistant Attorney Mina Faiz.