Crowdsourcing delivery drivers via online platforms is becoming an increasingly common form of finding delivery drivers in the last mile space. These drivers are classed as independent contractors/freelancers, as opposed to zero-hour contract workers, meaning that providers can circumvent employment legislation regarding zero-hour contracts.
This type of work, dubbed as ‘platform work’, is simply a new means of matching supply and demand for paid labour. Last mile providers which partake in these practices will use their own branded apps to onboard drivers as independent contracts to deliver packages using their own vehicles. Drivers then use the apps to select delivery blocks, navigate routes and manage deliveries, much like delivery drivers that work for restaurant delivery apps (such as UberEats or Deliveroo).
Some examples of last mile providers which partake in these practices are:
The EU now wants new rules to improve the working conditions of people working in the gig economy through the Platform Work Directive.
The Platform Work Directive aims to address cases of misclassification of platform workers and ease the way for such workers to be reclassified as employees, guaranteeing easier access to their rights as employees under EU law.
The directive obliges EU countries to establish a rebuttable legal presumption of employment at national level, aiming to correct the imbalance of power between the digital labour platform and the person performing platform work. This means that, if certain conditions that indicate control and direction are present, the law in member states will assume that platform workers are employees unless proven otherwise. If platform workers believe they should be treated as employees, they will be able to claim this under the new rules. If a worker is classified as an employee, they gain access to benefits such as minimum wage, paid leave and social security. Following the introduction of the directive, thousands of gig employees could be reclassified as employees, and the onus will be on the platform to prove that workers are really independent.
The directive also introduces new rules on algorithmic management in order to ensure that a person performing platform work cannot be fired or dismissed based on a decision taken by an algorithm or an automated decision-making system.
In April 2024, MEPs approved the directive. After its publication in the Official Journal of the EU, member states will have two years to incorporate the provisions of the directive into their national legislation.
What does the Platform Work Directive mean for last mile providers?
Member states will establish a legal presumption of employment in their own legal systems, to be triggered when certain conditions that indicate control and direction are found. These conditions will be determined according to national law, whilst also taking into account EU case-law, and will be introduced over the next year.
This means that those self-employed drivers that utilise platforms to complete deliveries will be able to claim that they are employed (and thus entitled to legal employment benefits) instead of self-employed if certain conditions are met.
Ultimately, European parcel and postal operators need to be continuously planning in the face of heightened last-mile regulation, driven not just by worker welfare but also sustainability concerns and traffic congestion. Looking forward, it will be interesting to see whether last-mile operators embrace or revoke the evolving regulatory landscape.
Last mile providers that use platform workers will need to review working conditions of self-employed drivers and assess the relationship between driver and platform and ensure that deliverers are not subject to a subordinate relationship.
Author: Nia Hudson
Source: Transport Intelligence
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