In the year 2020, the Ministry of Labor of Spain, led by Yolanda Díaz, was a pioneer in Europe by approving a Rider Law that sought to make employees of all people who worked as freelancers, taking food deliveries by bicycle and motorcycle throughout the country. We say he was looking because over time he discovered companies that did not comply with it, such as Glovo, which led to millions in fines.
Now this law will be replicated by the European Union. After a year debating this issue in the European Parliament, the Spanish model has been the one that parliamentarians have liked the most. Secondly, they had the French option to keep the workers as self-employed. What Spain was like before 2021 when the law finally came into force
These novelties for companies such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Glovo or Gorillas (which arrived in Spain already knowing that this law was going to be implemented) will come into force in 2023, since the law will not materialize until next year. It must be remembered that Just Eat has adopted this model without problems since before the entry into force of the law. Final approval is expected by the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024. Now only the main structure that this new European regulation will have has been voted on.
In addition, the European law that is being prepared also applies to other sectors such as VTCs (in Spain there is a separate regulation, which also depends a lot depending on the Autonomous Community) and for messengers, cleaners and other workers who have a relationship with digital companies of the so-called “collaborative economy”.
workers’ rights
With the law, workers are no longer just autonomous, but have the rights of a hired person: joining a union, a fixed salary, defined working hours and other much clearer rules.
In any case, in this case, the self-employed may continue to exist, although it will be assumed that they do not. That is to say, now, in these companies, it is being assumed that if there is no employment contract they are not employees, but with the change it will be the other way around. If there is no demonstration that they are self-employed, they will be considered employees.
Regulation of algorithms
This law not only emphasizes the employment relationship between food delivery companies and the people who perform this function. Another very interesting topic is how they are usedAlgorithms and AI to assess and monitor to the workers.
It must be remembered that in Spain the law states that these companies must share their algorithms of allocation of distribution with the legal representation of the workers. The reason is that these Technologys affect working conditions, including access to work itself and its maintenance.
