Draft legislation for gig economy workers has been put forward by the Work and Pensions and the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committees.
They have proposed legislation that takes a ‘worker by default’ approach. This would apply to companies who have a self-employed workforce above a certain size, as defined in secondary legislation.
The move follows agreement that there is an urgent and overwhelming case for increased clarity on employment status. The Committees believe that by combining legislative clarity with improved awareness, confusion among workers and employers alike should be alleviated, reducing both exploitation and the burden on the courts.
Other proposals put forward include introducing greater clarity on definitions of employment status. They suggested that the legislation should emphasise the importance of control and supervision of workers by a company, rather than a narrow focus on substitution, in distinguishing between workers and the genuine self-employed.
The draft legislation takes forward ‘the best’ of the Taylor Report recommendations.
‘Responsible businesses have nothing to fear from our recommendations. Indeed, they stand to benefit from the level playing field we seek to create,’ states the framework for modern employment report. ‘A willingness to exploit workers should not be a competitive advantage. A race to the bottom risks undercutting the vast majority of businesses that do treat their workers well.’
Other proposals put forward in the draft legislation include: working with the Low Pay Commission to pilot, for workers who work non-contracted hours, a pay premium on the National Minimum Wage; extending the time allowance for a break in service while still accruing employment rights for continuous service from one week to one month; and, extending the duty of employers to provide a clearly written statement of employment conditions to cover workers, as well as employees.
The Committees will now seek to secure support from Parliament to take these reforms forward.
