Bill tackles gig economy failings
A draft parliamentary Bill to tackle bogus self-employment and some of the failings of the gig economy has been welcomed by the Unite general union.
The draft Bill has been jointly proposed by the House of Commons select committees for Work and Pensions and for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Bill’s key recommendations include clearer definitions of employment status, with workers operating for a company above a certain size to be classed as workers unless the company proves otherwise.
All workers would receive a statement on employment terms and rights on day one of employment, and there would be a pilot scheme to pay above the National Minimum Wage for workers without guaranteed hours.
The so-called “Swedish derogation” on the implementation of the EU agency workers directive would be scrapped. This currently allows agency workers placed with a company to be paid less than directly employed workers.
Furthermore, workers would have the right to take class action employment tribunal cases to establish employment status, and there would be stronger penalties for breaching employment law and more naming and shaming of all non-accidental breaches of employment rights.
Unite said that the proposal that workers would be deemed to have worker status unless an employer was able to prove otherwise had “the potential to transform industries such as construction which are heavily reliant on bogus self-employed workers”.