European Parliament approves more guarantees for workers on Uber-style platforms

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

The European Parliament has approved - by 466 votes in favor, 145 against and 37 abstentions - a directive that guarantees minimum rights for workers on demand and platforms such as Uber and Deliveroo and will increase the protection of "atypical" workers: casual, 'freelance', 'riders', precarious, informal and domestic.

The European Parliament has thus ratified the February agreement signed by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council to establish more transparent and predictable working conditions , particularly as regards non-conventional forms of employment. That is to say:  freelancers,  riders,  temporary, autonomous, precarious, informal, autonomous, domestic. In total, some 200 million  workers across the EU, according to the Commission.

The employer must provide additional information to the employee when signing the contract that until now was not mandatory at the community level. Specifically, you must inform about the duration of the probationary period, if it offers any type of training, compensation for overtime, the characteristics of the company in which a hired worker will work through a temporary work agency, or more precise information about the schedules in case these vary or on the form of quotation.

The new regulations will affect in particular those who make their living in fast food chains, distribution stores, supermarkets, household employees who charge through bonuses or coupons and also employees through digital platforms such as Drivers on demand.

The scope of application of the directive does not include workers hired for less than seven days, which has been criticized by European unions, and denounced by MEPs such as Paloma López (IU) or Ernest Urtasun (Catalunya en Comú).

The European Commission has explained that the agreement, which provides for three years of adaptation for application by States, seeks to "protect more workers throughout Europe, especially those, increasingly numerous, who exercise new forms of work, such as  flexible jobs  and contracts on demand, as well as domestic workers."

In this sense, "all workers, regardless of the length of their contract and the number of hours they work, will be informed of their rights and obligations since they start working. Workers will have the right to decide with their employers when they remain available and what period of notice should be given to them."

"Workers on demand will no longer be able to be fired, " says Brussels, "if they refuse to work with a very short notice period. Employers will not be able to prevent workers with a zero-hour contract from having additional work with another employer. It will have a very concrete and tangible positive effect for some two hundred million workers across the EU. "

In addition, trial periods will be limited to a maximum of six months, unless expressly justified , employees are allowed to work for other companies and exclusivity clauses are limited.

The company is also required to report when it may need an employee with changing schedules and the employee's right not to respond to work calls outside of an agreed timeframe is guaranteed.

A compensation is also required if the company cancels a job assignment to an employee after a certain period of time and offers the "atypical" worker the possibility of requesting from the company more stable contractual forms, a demand that must be answered and justified by written, and it is guaranteed that compulsory training does not have a cost for the worker.

The new EU regulations, agreed between the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament, will update a 1991 regulation and affect casual workers, those with contracts of less than one month or less than eight hours a week or domestic employees, among others.

The legislative update, in which the Spanish MP of ALDE Enrique Calvet (exUPyD) has acted as negotiator of the European Parliament, also foresees that the employees have this information before seven days from the beginning of the contract and in a maximum of one month if the company has to provide supplementary information.

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Join us in Miami Beach, June 5-7 for the Global Online Marketplaces Summit.