European Parliament EMPL Committee draft report on the proposal for a directive on improving working conditions in platform work

The European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs is currently debating the draft report on the proposal for a directive on improving working conditions in platform work (2021/0414(COD)).

Bitkom regrets that the proposal in its current form leads to more legal uncertainty for persons performing platform work and the platform industry as a whole by introducing a rebuttable presumption of employment based on unclear and imprecise criteria. For a balanced and future-proof regulation of platform work, Bitkom believes that the following amendments in particular should be made:

• Narrowing down the definitions of “digital labour platform” and “platform work” to focus on the organisation of service work in the platform economy;
• Setting clear and precise criteria for the rebuttable presumption of employment focusing on potential bogus self-employment being backed by European case law;
• Ensuring that self-employed persons performing platform work, the vast majority of whom wish to remain self-employed, cannot automatically face reclassification without them opting-in to a challenge of their status;
• Suspending the application of the legal presumption during a rebuttal process (introduction of a suspensive effect);
• Restricting the obligations for transparency, human monitoring, and human review to automated systems.