[WATCH] Food couriers will have to be paid overtime, sick leave and statutory bonuses under new rules

A new set of laws will regulate digital platform workers and their employers in a bid to remove the legal grey area around food delivery couriers and the work agencies employing them.

Parliamentary Secretary Andy Ellul unveiled the legislation on Friday, explaining that government had been receiving several complaints on the regulatory set-up surrounding platform work.

“We couldn’t do nothing in the face of these complaints,” he said, adding that an investigation by the Department of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) found that platform work sectors were riddled with a lack of written contracts, unenforced contracts, no work bonuses and payment rates below the minimum wage.

Under the new law, the employer must provide the worker with a contract of employment, a detailed payslip, statutory bonuses, and overtime rates paid by the hour. The worker must also be paid double on rest days, while their sick leave must be paid in full. In addition, the law will now specify that no cuts should be taken from workers’ wages, neither for work-related expenses nor for recruitment fees.

The employer must also provide detailed information on the algorithm it uses to assign work on its platform, as well as on work hours. This information will have to be passed on to DIER when asked to do so.

When a platform makes use of an agency to secure a supply of workers, the agency must be provided with all information necessary so that all salaries can be paid out accurately.

There will be a three month grace period for platforms and agencies to regularise themselves in line with the law.

Government will also transpose an EU Directive to provide workers a more detailed overview of their working conditions. Under the directive, probation periods cannot exceed six months unless a longer period is justified due to the nature of the work.

Employers will be prohibited from preventing their workers to take on other work outside of their main work duties, with exceptions for health and safety reasons, commercial confidentiality, public service integrity or to avoid conflicts of interest.

Workers will have to be informed beforehand of the hours they were expected to work, while any necessary work training must be offered for free. After a six-month probation period, workers will be entitled to ask for more stable working conditions.

In addition, zero hour contracts will be banned except for cases where the worker is needed on call, has other sources of income or is a full-time student.

Stationed workers will also have to be informed by their employers on the specific conditions of the work contract, especially with regards to remuneration, accommodation, and relocation expenses.