Daily Management Review

Minimum Rights For 'Gig Economy' Workers Set By New EU Regulaw


04/17/2019




Minimum Rights For 'Gig Economy' Workers Set By New EU Regulaw
New rules aimed for offering better protection for the employees in the so called "gig economy" has been approved by the European Parliament.
 
For those employees working in those "on-demand" jobs, such as at Uber or Deliveroo, have been granted a set of minimum rights while also mandating increased transparency from the companies employing them.
 
The new regulations have made proposals for making the working hours in the ‘gig economy’ more predictable and providing compensation for cancelled work in addition to a call for bringing an end to "abusive practices" meted out to casual contracts.
 
The new rules now have to be enforced through their parliaments by the member states of the European Union.
 
According to the announcement made by the European Parliament, the new legislation will be applicable to "the most vulnerable employees on atypical contracts and in non-standard jobs" and would include those who work on zero-hour contracts.
 
A large array of legislative protections in relation to working hours, minimum breaks and holiday entitlement is already enjoyed by the employees in EU member states. However, there were no concrete regulations on working conditions and payments and holiday security for those people working in the "gig economy" and who could be working on multiple jobs and on a flexible basis, or be made to work on erratic hours.
 
This new regulation would be applicable for the United Kingdom only if it still remains a valid member of the EU after a period of three years after the new regulation comes into force. However the UK has already introduced similar legislation at a national level.
 
According to the EU law, employees would have to be informed by employers about the essential aspects of their employment on the very first day first day of their employment and would include a detailed description of the duties expected from the employees and a starting date and pay information. Information also has to be given about the right of the employee to compensation for late cancelling of work and an indication about the duties on a standard working day and reference hours. The employees would  also only be required to undergo one probationary period which can last for a maximum period of six months  and would ban "exclusivity clauses" and allowing the employees to have other jobs.
 
The new rules would be applicable for all of those employees engaged for at least three hours of work every week and averaged over four weeks. According to estimates, there would be about three million people in that category even though the number is growing. The rules would also be applicable for trainees and apprentices in similar circumstances.
 
This was the first EU legislation which set minimum workers' rights in 20 years, said Enrique Calvet Chambon, the MEP responsible for seeing the law through. "All workers who have been in limbo will now be granted minimum rights thanks to this directive... from now on no employer will be able to abuse the flexibility in the labour market," he said.
 
(Source:www.bbc.com)