"EU countries amend draft proposal on gig workers' rights, companies unhappy", 12 June 2023

EU countries on Monday tweaked draft rules aimed at giving workers at online companies such as Uber and Deliveroo employee benefits, ahead of negotiations with EU lawmakers who want more comprehensive rules than both EU governments and the European Commission.

The draft rules announced by the EU executive in late 2021 would be a global first and are part of a raft of legislation intended to ensure a level playing field between online and traditional businesses.

In their draft version agreed on Monday, EU countries propose that companies will be considered employers if they meet three out of seven criteria.

The criteria are supervising the performance of workers through electronic means, restricting their ability to choose their working hours, and restricting their tasks, preventing them from working for third parties, setting an upper limit on pay, setting rules on their appearance or conduct and restricting their ability to use subcontractors or substitutes.

The EU executive said the rules would cover some 4.1 million of the 28 million workers at online platform companies across the 27-country European Union.

The European Parliament, which proposed its own changes in February, wants the rules to include an indicative list of criteria to determine whether a worker is an employee. Such criteria would include whether the worker was subject to a fixed salary, defined working hours and work time, and supervision by the employer.

EU countries said workers should be informed about the use of algorithms used in decision making processes at work when these decisions concern them, while lawmakers say important decisions should not be taken by automated systems.

Uber criticised the proposals from both EU countries and lawmakers...

EU countries, EU lawmakers and the Commission will now thrash out the details before the draft becomes legislation.