Bill seeks to regulate messenger service employment model

The bill proposes a new legal status in addition to the traditional categories of salaries employee and independent contractor.

A private member’s was laid before the Knesset today aimed at regulating the status of employees of digital platforms. This will cover thousands of delivery operatives of Wolt, and some delivery operatives at Mishloha, Haat, Yango, and Ten Bis.

The bill is separately sponsored by MK Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid) and Dan Illouz and Moshe Passal (Likud).

Under the proposal, a contract between an operative and a company that provides a services platform will not constitute an employer-employee relationship, as long as the operative Is not obliged to provide service at certain times or of a certain scope, and is allowed to work with other companies, and is not obliged to provide service as a condition of continued engagement with the company.

The background is the model whereby companies engage messengers as self-employed workers, giving considerable flexibility. A class action brought by a Wolt messenger, claiming that an employment relationship should be recognized between him and the company, was approved for hearing. Wolt appealed, and the National Labor Court referred the sides to a mediation procedure, which is still in progress.

Last week, a representative of the State Attorney’s Office informed the court of the work of an inter-ministerial team set up by the Ministry of Labor to examine the employment model. He stated that the team lacked data on the extent of employment by digital platforms in Israel, and that a study of the matter would be commissioned.

Safety net

The new proposal seeks to preserve the advantages of the business model, but to provide a safety net. For example, it stipulates payment of the legal minimum wage, that the operative will not work more than twelve hours a day, a hearing before termination of the engagement, and protection against sexual harassment and discrimination.

The preamble to the bill states that current law, which relates to self-employed people and salary earners, does not provide a suitable framework for the new reality that has come about. "The rapid rise of the platforms economy in recent years demonstrates that the traditional distinction between a salaried employee and an independent contractor, which was mainly developed by the labor courts, and is examined in each case in accordance with the circumstances, does not provide a suitable response to those who work in the platforms economy and to the companies that operate the platform.

"Accordingly, the current legal situation is liable to lead to erroneous classification, that first and foremost will harm the desire of the independent operatives for a decent living, and their flexibility and self-management. Alongside this, the ability of the platform operator to mediate effectively and efficiently between the consumer and the operative, with all the advantages for the economy that this activity brings, will also be harmed."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 11, 2024.

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