'Platform Work: first green light to new EU rules on employment status'

On Tuesday, the Employment and Social Affairs Committee endorsed a political deal on a new bill aiming to improve the working conditions of platform workers.

The new rules, agreed on by the Parliament and the Council in February, aim to ensure that platform workers have their employment status classified correctly and to correct bogus self-employment. They also regulate, for the first time ever in the EU, the use of algorithmic management and artificial intelligence in the workplace.

The provisional agreement on the Platform Work Directive was adopted by the Employment and Social Affairs Committee with 37 votes in favour and 3 against...

Employment status

The new law introduces a presumption of an employment relationship (as opposed to self-employment) that is triggered when facts indicating control and direction are present, according to national law and collective agreements, and taking into account EU-case law...

New rules on algorithmic management

The new rules ensure that a person performing platform work cannot be fired or dismissed based on a decision taken by an algorithm or an automated decision making system...

Transparency and data protection

...Finally, the text improves transparency by obliging platforms to inform workers and their representatives of how their algorithms work and how a worker’s behaviour affects decisions taken by automated systems.

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Rapporteur Elisabetta Gualmini (S&D, IT), said: “I am really proud of what we have achieved: a historic deal that will give platform workers dignity, protection and rights. It will also protect true self-employment, correct and prevent unfair competition, and introduce ground-breaking rules on algorithm management. The lobbying against the directive was extremely intense, but we delivered: Europe protects its citizens, its social model and its economy. Europe is a pioneer in labour law at the international level.”

Next steps

The agreed text will now have to be formally endorsed by the Parliament during the 22-25 April plenary session. It then also needs to be formally adopted by the Council...