Brexit may not prevent EU gig economy reforms from reaching the UK | Gig economy

The European Commission’s plans to protect people in precarious jobs in the gig economy could be the most ambitious extension of workers’ rights from Brussels since Britain left the EU.

If accepted, the plans would mean gig economy companies like Uber and Deliveroo would have to treat workers as employees with minimum wages (if any), sick pay, vacation and better accident insurance unless they could prove drivers and couriers were really self-employed.

Workers would also be better protected from being managed by algorithms, which means they cannot be denied work or fired from a machine whose code is secret.

The UK Government has no control over or obligation to apply these rules. After all, that was the point of Brexit. However, British politicians and companies operating in the UK may have a hard time escaping the appeal of Brussels.

EU law only applies to 450 million people in 27 Member States, but its effects are far more palpable as global companies apply EU rules across their business to reduce costs or avoid complexity. The so-called Brussels effect is evident in the scope of EU data protection regulations as well as standards on chemicals, cars and food safety.

The EU commissioner for jobs, Nicolas Schmit, suggested that the same effect could apply with the latest gig economy plan. “Not only will this standard affect the 27 member states and the platforms operating in the 27 member states, it will likely be some kind of standard that will apply to other countries or even parts of the world,” he told the Guardian.

That judgment might be too early to appeal. An estimated 500 gig economy companies are active in the EU. They are likely to react differently to EU legislation, which has yet to be agreed in complex, month-long negotiations between EU ministers and MEPs.

Some companies might choose to treat gig workers as employees, as the Dutch company Just Eat does, or follow the Danish cleaning company Hilfr, which gives employee status to those who have worked on its platform for more than 100 hours. Others may try to adjust their business model or leave a country entirely if they see no way to be profitable.

In the UK gig economy, businesses have to respond to court rulings rather than new laws. A landmark Supreme Court ruling earlier this year defined Uber drivers as workers eligible for minimum wage and vacation pay. The “employee” category, as distinct from employees and self-employed, was defined in the Employment Rights Act of 1996.

George Maier, an expert on gig economy at the London School of Economics, said companies were trying to take advantage of ambiguity in a pre-internet law. “Right now it feels like gig workers, often from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, have to bear the costs of fighting for their fundamental rights in court. That should not happen.”

Boris Johnson was elected in 2019 on the basis of a manifest promise to introduce “measures to protect low-wage workers and the gig economy,” an idea that was expanded in the Queen’s speech this year to include a promise to propose a labor law that would “protect” and improve workers’ rights when the UK leaves the EU and make the UK the best place to work in the world ”.

Almost two years after that speech, the government did not publish a labor law.

While the pandemic has thrown many plans off track, there is also an unsettled debate about what Brexit really means. When trying to get his EU exit law through in the House of Commons in October 2019, the Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to “the highest possible standards” in relation to workers’ rights, saying: “Whatever the EU can come up with, we can adapt it and pass it on the law of this country ”.

The feeling he expressed that day is nowhere near shared by the government. In a little-noticed speech at the Center for Policy Studies last month, Brexit Minister David Frost advocated a low-tax and light-regulation economy in a different way than the EU. “If we only import the European social model after Brexit, we will not be successful,” he said.

The latest EU proposal will put pressure on the government to deliver on its promise of stronger workers’ rights after a pandemic exposed dependence on low-wage workers in nursing homes, supermarkets, vans and bicycles.

The EU proposals “will undoubtedly help inform and inspire unions in the UK,” Tim Sharp said at the union convention. “This is a post-Brexit government that said it would protect and strengthen workers’ rights. I think when you see that workers in the European Union have rights and power, workers here would expect the same. “

A spokesman for the Department of Strategy for Business, Energy and Industry said: “The UK has one of the best labor rights records in the world – goes further than the EU in many areas – and we believe that the current framework for the UK’s employment status strike the right balance between the flexibility our economy needs and the protection of workers. “