These principles came into effect on January 1st, 2021. A new version (22.09) of the principles came into effect on September 1st, 2022.
The previous version of the principles (20.06) is available here.
Before reading these principles, please read about how we assess platforms against these principles and the information and evidence that we gather and analyse when we make our assessment.
* Updated (08/06/2022): The wording relating to some of these principles was updated to clarify the thresholds that need to be met.
Platform workers often have substantial work-related costs to cover, such as transport between jobs, supplies, or fuel, insurance, and maintenance on a vehicle.[1] Workers’ costs sometimes mean their take-home earnings may fall below the local minimum wage.[2] Workers also absorb the costs of extra time commitment, when they spend time waiting or travelling between jobs, or other unpaid activities necessary for their work, which are also considered active hours.[3] To achieve this point platforms must demonstrate that work-related costs do not push workers below local minimum wage.
The platform takes appropriate steps to ensure the following:
In some places, the minimum wage is not enough to allow workers to afford a basic but decent standard of living. To achieve this point platforms must demonstrate that work-related costs do not push workers below local living wage.
Platform workers may encounter a number of risks in the course of their work, including accidents and injuries, harmful materials, and crime and violence. To achieve this point platforms must show that they are aware of these risks, and take steps to mitigate them. In addition, platforms must show that they seek to improve working conditions even when basic risks are addressed.
Platforms must satisfy the following:
Platform workers are vulnerable to the possibility of abruptly losing their income as the result of unexpected or external circumstances, such as sickness or injury. Most countries provide a social safety net to ensure workers don’t experience sudden poverty due to circumstances outside their control. However, platform workers usually don’t qualify for protections such as sick pay, because of their independent contractor status. In recognition of the fact that most workers are dependent on income derived from the labour exchange made via the platform for their livelihood, platforms can achieve this point by ensuring that workers are compensated for loss of income due to inability to work.
Platforms must satisfy BOTH of the following:
The terms and conditions governing platform work are not always clear and accessible to workers.[8] To achieve this point the platform must demonstrate that workers are able to understand, agree to, and access the conditions of their work at all times, and that they have legal recourse if the other party breaches those conditions.
The platform must satisfy ALL of the following:
In some cases, especially under ‘independent contractor’ classifications, workers carry a disproportionate amount of risk for engaging in a contract with the service user. They may be liable for any damage arising in the course of their work, and they may be prevented by unfair clauses from seeking legal redress for grievances. To achieve this point, platforms must demonstrate that risks and liability of engaging in the work is shared between parties.
Regardless of how the contractual status of the worker is classified, the platform must satisfy BOTH of the following:
Platform workers can experience arbitrary deactivation; being barred from accessing the platform without explanation, and potentially losing their income. Workers may be subject to other penalties or disciplinary decisions without the ability to contact the service user or the platform to challenge or appeal them if they believe they are unfair. To achieve this point, platforms must demonstrate an avenue for workers to meaningfully appeal disciplinary actions.
Platforms must satisfy ALL of the following:
The majority of platforms do not actively discriminate against particular groups of workers. However, they may inadvertently exacerbate already existing inequalities in their design and management. For example, there is a lot of gender segregation between different types of platform work. To achieve this point, platforms must show not only that they have policies against discrimination, but also that they seek to remove barriers for disadvantaged groups, and promote inclusion.
Freedom of association is a fundamental right for all workers, and enshrined in the constitution of the International Labour Organisation, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The right for workers to organise, collectively express their wishes – and importantly – be listened to, is an important prerequisite for fair working conditions. However, rates of organisation amongst platform workers remain low. To achieve this point, platforms must ensure that the conditions are in place to encourage the expression of collective worker voice. Whether or not platforms set the terms on which workers are retained by service users, platforms must demonstrate that they have taken appropriate steps to ensure that workers are informed of their rights (and have mechanisms in place to help protect those rights) and that workers are directed to appropriate collective bodies or trade unions.
While rates of organisation remain low, platform workers’ associations are emerging in many sectors and countries. We are also seeing a growing number of cooperative worker-owned platforms. To realise fair representation, workers must have a say in the conditions of their work. This could be through a democratically-governed cooperative model, a formally recognised union, or the ability to undertake collective bargaining with the platform.
Platforms must satisfy at least ONE of the following:
These conditions should apply whether or not platforms set the terms on which workers are retained by service users.
PLATFORM: Here, the term ‘platform’ is used to refer to a ‘geographically-tethered digital labour platform’ (Woodcock and Graham 2020). There are two points of note here. First, a digital labour platform is a company that mediates and facilitates “labour exchange between different users, such as businesses, workers and consumers[12]. Digital platforms like Airbnb or eBay—where goods are exchanged—are not included within this definition. Second, among digital labour platforms, there are two broad types. In the first—’geographically-tethered’ or ‘location-based’ platforms—the work is required to be done in a particular location (e.g. delivering food from a restaurant to an apartment or driving a person from one part of town to another). In contrast, in the second—’cloudwork’ or ‘online work’ platforms—the work can, in theory, be performed from anywhere via the internet (e.g. data categorisation or online freelancing). In these principles, the term ‘platform’ refers only to the first category of geographically-tethered digital labour platforms. For more information about the platforms covered, please read our FAQs.
WORKER: People who find work through platforms, regardless of their employment status (e.g. employees or independent contractors).
SUBCONTRACTING: Some platforms outsource parts of their operations to other enterprises. While some of these companies operate under the same name as the main company, or a slightly different version of it (e.g. Amazon and Amazon Flex), there might also be others that provide their services to the platform but also carry out their own operations (e.g. Amazon, DPD and myHermes). Where subcontracting relations are in place, the responsibility for ensuring fairness standards still rests on the main platform that outsources its operations.
e < M
M ≤ e < 1.5M
1.5M ≤ e < 2M
2M ≤ e
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