CCPA-BC response to the BC Ministry of Labour discussion paper Proposing Employment Standards and Other Protections for App-Based Ride-Hail and Food-Delivery Workers in British Columbia
2.1 MB23 pages
This brief addresses the specific discussion questions posed in the Ministry’s Paper and highlights several other priority areas for reform that are essential for ensuring that app-based workers have access to the full range of rights and protections afforded to other workers in our province, including the right to collectively bargain.
Summary of our recommendations
- Establish a clear test to determine whether app-based workers are independent contractors with the presumption of employee status and make misclassification a priority enforcement issue.
- Extend the full range of BC worker rights and protections available under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) to app-based ride-hailing and food-delivery workers.
- Ensure workers receive at least the minimum wage for all time worked before tips and after work-related expenses.
- Require platform companies to compensate workers for all necessary work-related expenses and prohibit unauthorized deductions from workers’ pay.
- Apply existing ESA tip protection standards to app-based workers.
- Mandate pay and destination transparency.
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Protect workers from unfair account suspensions and deactivations/terminations, create a pathway to a timely complaints/appeal process, and mandate appropriate compensation when workers are found to have been
unfairly suspended or terminated/deactivated. -
Require notice of termination for app-based workers and implement unjust
dismissal protections for app-based workers and all workers covered by the ESA. -
Mandate that app-based workers have full coverage by the Workers
Compensation Act and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation. -
Confirm app-based workers’ full rights to collective bargaining and meaningful
access to unionization. - Require platform companies to contribute to provincial and federal payroll-based programs.
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Mandate transparency about the controls that platform companies apply over
app-based workers through the platform.
