The European Parliament validates a law to strengthen the rights of digital platform workers

On Wednesday April 24, the European Parliament approved European legislation to strengthen the rights of workers on digital platforms such as Uber or Deliveroo. The text, validated by a very large majority (554 votes for, 56 against, 24 abstentions), plans to reclassify as employees many people currently working under self-employed status as vehicle drivers or delivery people.

But the terms of these requalifications remain vague and dependent on national regulations, even though the text was supposed to establish a harmonized European framework guaranteeing legal certainty. A political agreement between negotiators from Member States and Parliament was reached in March, without France and Germany.

“At least 5.5 million” workers wrongly registered as self-employed

The European Commission estimates that “at least 5.5 million”, out of a total of nearly 30 million, the number of platform workers wrongly registered as independent and therefore unfairly deprived of the social benefits of employment. Initially, the text proposed at the end of 2021 by the Commission created a presumption of employment on the basis of objective criteria unified at EU level: the fact that a platform sets remuneration levels, remotely supervises services or even does not allow its employees to choose their schedules or refuse assignments.

But the compromise ultimately adopted renounces this list, leaving a great deal of autonomy to the Member States. A “legal presumption” of employment will have to be introduced into each of the 27 legal systems of the member countries. It will be triggered when facts demonstrate a “control” workers by the company. The legislation must still be subject to formal validation by the Council of the EU, which brings together the 27 member states.