On 16 September 2021, the European Parliament adopted an own-initiative report on “Fair working conditions, rights and social protection for platform workers — New forms of employment linked to digital development.”
The report highlights the legal uncertainty around the term ‘worker’ and ‘self-employed’ and calls for a reversal of the burden of proof for workers claiming employment status, pleading for a minimum set of rights for platform workers regardless of their employment status.
On 31 August 2021, the First Instance Argentine Labour Court ruled on the legal nature of the work relationship between a vehicle driver and a platform company.
It stated that a driver of the platform was misclassified as contactor and therefore, was under an unregistered employment relationship with the company.
The well-regulated agency work model facilitates the flexibility of and access to a diverse jobs market, enabling individuals to enjoy genuine independent or self-employed status without compromising their social rights and employment protections
For these reasons, agency work can be a leading model for the platform work economy.
Africa is growing exponentially in the online gig economy.
The 2021 Fairwork Foundation report on gig work in South Africa confirms that digital labour platforms hold the potential to reduce the extremely high unemployment and inequality levels.
Uber has announced that it will start rolling out the first ever pension scheme for flexible workers in the Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) and ride-hailing industry in the United Kingdom
Eligible drivers will be auto-enrolled in a pension scheme provided by NOW: Pensions, and managed by leading workplace solutions provider Adecco.
The Portuguese Government approved a broad-ranging labour reform draft bill that also aims to implement a rebuttable presumption of employment specific for platform workers to to ease worker reclassification as employees instead of independent contractors.
Such a proposal will still need to get the final approval from Parliament, depending on the results of the 30 January 2022 snap general elections. If passed by the Parliament, drivers for ride-hailing, delivery and other apps, would be treated as presumed employees rather than self-employed.
Governmental Order No. 2021-484 of 21 April 2021 on the modalities of representation of self-employed workers using platforms is currently under the revision of the Parliament.
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