The ministry of Work reaches an agreement with the European Parliament to improve the protection of workers on digital platforms

The Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, at the behest of the Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, has reached an agreement with the European Parliament in Strasbourg on a future directive for workers on digital platforms that will improve their working conditions and social protection in all European Union countries.

"This proposal, which has been inspired by the Spanish Rider Law, is a breakthrough for men and women working on digital platforms. If the Council of the European Union ratifies it next week, it will mean that these workers will have more rights, especially those who have been wrongly considered self-employed until now, because they will have better labour and social protection", said the vice-president about this regulation, the first at an international level.

The Spanish law on people working for delivery platforms approved in 2021, a pioneer in Europe in presuming these workers be salaried, has been one of the legal sources of this directive which, according to European Commission estimates, could affect some 5.5 million people who are erroneously classified as self-employed in the European Union.

Today, more than 28 million people in the EU work on one of around 500 digital platforms of all kinds (delivery, transport, etc.) operating in the 27 countries of the bloc. According to EU estimates, the number of workers will rise to 43 million in two years' time.

The new European directive, which was finalised in the early hours of this morning after more than 12 hours of negotiations, provides for member states to have administrative or judicial procedures to classify people who work on one of these digital platforms as employees.

They must meet at least two signs of employment to be considered as employees, e.g. where it is the platform that determines their remuneration or the platform that controls the performance of the professional activity.

The directive that has been agreed also provides for sanctions for non-compliant platforms, as well as administrative and judicial procedures available to workers who are deemed to be misclassified.

The platform will also have to prove whether a worker is an employee or self-employed.

The directive also strengthens transparency and human control of automated monitoring and decision-making systems through algorithms used by digital platforms, while giving rights to workers and their representatives.

The new regulation will prevent platforms from using automated systems to monitor and make decisions about the emotional state of workers and their private conversations, as well as their biometric data.

Any decision to terminate, restrict or suspend an employment relationship with a worker shall not be made on the basis of an algorithm. Workers' representatives shall have access to full and detailed information on the automated monitoring and decision-making systems used by the platform. In addition, they will have to be consulted when changes are made to these systems.

The provisional agreement reached early this morning in talks between the Council, the Parliament and the Commission will be put to the test again on 20 December, when it will be submitted for ratification by the permanent ambassadors of the 27 member states to the EU and by the plenary of the European Parliament.

Non official translation