Delivery man taking food out of bag on his scooter
L‘European Union is working for a new one directive designed to guarantee legal protections and rights to all workers of digital platforms like the riders who take care of home deliveries for food delivery platforms. The objective of the European Union is to guarantee these workers the right recognition and the right protections in relation to what, in fact, is an employee job position.
The European Union wants to regulate work through digital platforms
Currently, digital platforms employ 28 million Europeans (in the EU there are over 500 specialized platforms in various sectors). According to data from the European Commission, 5.5 million workers from the European Union are not correctly classified. These workers are self-employed when, in fact, they are employees.
The reclassification of digital platform workers will ensure one substantial increase in rights for workers. This aims to ensure a minimum wage, collective bargaining and protection of working hours and health as well as the right to paid holidays and better access to accident protection.
The criteria for being considered an employee
The European Union proposal provides for the definition of five criteria for verifying the type of work: the presence of a minimum wage or a salary ceiling, the presence of a system of supervision of the work through electronic tools, the presence of restrictions to work hours or to the holiday period or to the transfer, the presence of binding rules on work to be guaranteed or restrictions on expanding one’s clientele. It will be enough to respect two criteria to be considered employees.