The Government grants additional protection to self-employed workers on digital platforms in the event of a workplace accident
Today, in the Council of Ministers, the government implemented an additional measure of the government agreement on the “jobs deal”. This involves the implementation of a section of the law of 3 October 2022 on various employment provisions concerning platform workers.
In recent years, platform work has grown exponentially, a trend accelerated by the coronavirus crisis. In this context, it was necessary to establish legal certainty regarding the nature of the working relationship between a platform worker and a platform acting as principal, whether as employees or self-employed workers.
From 1 January 2023, a rebuttable legal presumption was thus introduced to determine the working relationship of platform workers working for a platform acting as principal. The balance struck by the 2006 Laruelle law on the nature of working relationships remained unchanged, with the 4 general legal criteria (including the intention of the parties) taking precedence, but with eight new specific criteria.
The mechanism put in place offers the possibility of rebutting this presumption through all available legal means, in particular on the basis of the 4 general criteria, which take precedence over the specific criteria.
The decision taken today within the government provides additional protection for platform workers acting as self-employed workers. Platform operators must now take out compulsory common-law insurance against accidents occurring during the performance of the activity.
This insurance aims to cover damage resulting from workplace accidents and accidents occurring on the way to and from the activity. Compensation will be calculated on the basis of private flat-rate insurance schemes.
The draft royal decree also provides for minimum guarantee conditions for these insurance contracts if the platform has not taken out insurance cover. An obligation to set up a private guarantee fund is thus introduced.
Finally, this legislation will enter into force on 1 January 2026, giving industry players and insurers the time needed to implement this insurance. It should be noted that major market players such as Deliveroo and Uber already offer workplace accident insurance, albeit in a more limited form.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Self-Employed, SMEs and the Middle Classes, David Clarinval responds: “In recent years, work via platforms has grown rapidly, and the coronavirus crisis has further accelerated the expansion of this type of activity. While it is important and necessary to maintain the self-employed status for these workers, as it genuinely reflects how they carry out their activities, it is equally important to grant them adequate protection. Indeed, they provide services for which the risk of workplace accidents is higher than normal. Think, for example, of the bicycle courier in dense urban traffic. It is therefore desirable and proportionate to impose ordinary-law workplace accident insurance. The agreement reached today is a balanced agreement that guarantees better protection for platform workers while ensuring the flexibility they need”