EU Directive on Platform Workers: Key Updates

22 March 2024

EU Directive on Platform Workers: Key Updates

We would like to bring your attention to the recent developments regarding the EU Directive on Platform Workers. On March 11, 2024, ministers responsible for employment and social affairs from the 27 member states of the European Union reached consensus on a new directive aimed at enhancing the working conditions of platform workers. These individuals, often referred to as “gig workers,” encompass a variety of roles such as rideshare drivers, app-based freelancers, and those who secure employment through digital platforms.

Here are the key points you need to know:

  1. Definition of Platform Workers: The directive applies to “gig workers”, including app-based freelancers, and those who find work through digital platforms.
  2. Employment Status: The directive addresses the employment status of platform workers, estimated to be more than several million across the EU. The responsibility for determining employment status (self-employed or considered to be in an employment relationship) now rests with each EU member state.
  3. Legal Presumption of Employment: EU member states will establish a legal presumption of employment in their legal systems, triggered when facts indicating control and direction are found. The onus to prove that there is no employment relationship rests with the digital platform.
  4. Use of Algorithms: The directive aims to make the use of algorithms in human resources management more transparent. It provides for monitoring of automated systems, and platform workers and their representatives are given a right to contest automated decisions. Decisions regarding the restriction, suspension, or termination of the contractual relationship or account of a platform worker, or decisions of similar consequence, will be made by a person.

The directive needs to be formally adopted by the both the Council and the European Parliament and then transposed into national laws within 2 years.

Stay tuned for more updates on this significant development in the field of employment law.

Contacts:
Martina Dimitrova, Senior Associate
Irina Tsvetkova, Managing Partner