47 Amendments of Daniela RONDINELLI related to 2021/0414(COD)
Amendment 175 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) This Directive respects fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’). In particular, Article 31 of the Charter provides for the right of every worker to working conditions which respect his or her health, safety and dignity. Article 27 of the Charter protects the workers’ right to information and consultation within the undertaking. Article 8 of the Charter provides that everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her. Article 16 of the Charter recognises the freedom to conduct a business.
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 3 a (new)
Recital 3 a (new)
(3a) Directive (EU) 2019/1152 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union introduces new minimum rights and new rules on information to be provided to workers regarding working conditions. The full and correct application of the Directive should also help achieve the objective of responding to new labour market challenges arising from demographic developments, digitalisation and new forms of work.
Amendment 191 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 4
Recital 4
(4) Digitalisation is changing the world of work, improving productivity and enhancing flexibility, while also carrying some risks for employment and working conditions. Algorithm-based technologies and artificial intelligence, including automated monitoring and decision-making systems, have enabled the emergence and growth of digital labour platforms.
Amendment 196 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Platform work is performed by individuals through the digital infrastructure of digital labour platforms that provide a service to their customers. By means of the algorithms and artificial intelligence, the digital labour platforms may control, to a lesser or greater extent – depending on their business model – recruitment and termination of employment, the performance of the work, its remuneration and the relationship between their customers and the persons performing the work and exercising an omnipresent control over staff members both during and after their working hours. Platform work can be performed exclusively online through electronic tools (‘online platform work’) or in a hybrid way combining an online communication process with a subsequent activity in the physical world (‘on-location platform work’). Many of the existing digital labour platforms are international business actors deploying their activities and business models in several Member States or across borders.
Amendment 207 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 6
Recital 6
(6) Platform work can provide opportunities for accessing the labour market more easily, gaining additional income through a secondary activity or enjoying some flexibility in the organisation of working time. At the same time, platform work brings challenges, as it can blur the boundaries between relating to adequate protection of workers’ health and safety, working conditions, employment relationships and self- employed activity, and the responsibilities ofpay. Moreover, owing to the lack of clear rules at both European and national level, platform workers have in almost every instance been classified as self-employed, leading to widespread labour emxployers and woitation and numerous cases of social and wage dumping fuelling unfair competition on the internal markerst. Misclassification of the employment status has consequences for the persons affected, as it is likely to restrict access to existing labour and social rights. It also leads to an uneven playing field with respect to businesses that classify their workers correctly, and it has implications for Member States’ industrial relations systems, their tax base and the coverage and sustainability of their social protection systems. While such challenges are broader than platform work, they are particularly acute and pressing in the platform economy.
Amendment 239 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 8
Recital 8
(8) Automated monitoring and decision-making systems powered by algorithms increasingly replace functions that managers usually perform in businesses, such as allocating tasks, giving instructions, evaluating the work performed, providing incentives or imposing sanctions. Digital labour platforms use such algorithmic systems as a standard way of organising and managing platform work through their infrastructure. Persons performing platform work subject to such algorithmic management and workers whose companies make use of analog systems often lack information on how the algorithms work, which personal data are being used and how their behaviour affects decisions taken by automated systems. Workers’ representativeUnions and labour inspectorates do not have access to this information either. Moreover, persons performing platform workers often do not know the reasons for decisions taken or supported by automated systems and, in the case of workers using digital platforms, lack the possibility to discuss those decisions with a contact person or to contest them.
Amendment 254 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) A body of legal instruments provides for minimum standards in working conditions and labour rights across the Union. This includes in particular Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on transparent and predictable working conditions, Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on working time, Directive 2008/104/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on temporary agency work, and other specific instruments on aspects such as health and safety at work, pregnant workers, work-life balance, fixed-term work, part-time work, posting of workers, information and consultation of workers, among others. While those instruments provide a level of protection to workers, they do not apply to the genuine self- employed and are not equal to new labour market challenges or adapted to business models that use artificial intelligence and algorithms to manage working conditions and employment relationships. __________________ 55 Directive (EU) 2019/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on transparent and predictable working conditions in the European Union (OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 105). 56 Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (OJ L 299, 18.11.2003, p. 9). 57 Directive 2008/104/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on temporary agency work (OJ L 327, 5.12.2008, p. 9).
Amendment 263 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 12
Recital 12
(12) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council59 (‘General Data Protection Regulation’) ensures the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data, and in particular provides certain rights and obligations as well as safeguards concerning lawful, fair and transparent processing of personal data, including with regard to automated individual decision- making. Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council60 promotes fairness and transparency for ‘business users’ using online intermediation services provided by operators of online platforms. The European Commission has proposed further legislation laying down harmonised rules for providers and users of artificial intelligence systems61. However, this does not address the labour law and industrial relations implications of using artificial intelligence to govern working conditions and employment relationships. __________________ 59 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1). 60 Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on promoting fairness and transparency for business users of online intermediation services (OJ L 186, 11.7.2019, p. 57). 61 COM(2021) 206 final, 21.4.2021.
Amendment 269 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 13
Recital 13
(13) While existing or proposed Union legal acts provide for certain general safeguards, challenges in platform work require some further specific measures. In order to adequately frame the development of platformthe digitalisation of work in a sustainable manner, it is necessary for the Union to set new minimum standards in working conditions to address the challenges arising from platform workthis. Persons performing platform work in the Union should be provided with a number of minimum rights aiming at ensuring correct determination of their employment status, at promoting transparency, fairness and accountability in algorithmic management, and at improving transparency in platform work, including in cross-border situations. This should be done with a view to improving legal certainty, creating a level playing field between digital labour platforms and offline providers of services, avoiding social and fiscal dumping and supporting thefair and sustainable growth of digital labour platforms in the Union.
Amendment 279 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 16 a (new)
Recital 16 a (new)
(16a) The provisions of this directive specifically relating to the management of algorithms should also apply to all workers whose working conditions and employment relationships are regulated, monitored and managed through algorithms.
Amendment 308 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 20
Recital 20
(20) In its case law, the Court of Justice has established criteria for determining the status of a worker62. The interpretation by the Court of Justice of those criteria should be taken into account in the implementation of this Directive. The abuse of the status of self-employed persons, as defined in national law, either at national level or in cross-border situations, is a form of falsely declared work that is frequently associated with undeclared work. False self-employment occurs when a person is declared to be self- employed while fulfilling the conditions characteristic of an employment relationship, in order to avoid certain legal or fiscal obligations. , thereby falling within the scope of this directive. __________________ 62 Judgments of the Court of Justice of 3 July 1986, Deborah Lawrie-Blum v Land Baden-Württemberg, C-66/85, ECLI:EU:C:1986:284; 14 October 2010, Union Syndicale Solidaires Isère v Premier ministre and Others, C-428/09, ECLI:EU:C:2010:612; 4 December 2014, FNV Kunsten Informatie en Media v Staat der Nederlanden, C-413/13, ECLI:EU:C:2014:2411; 9 July 2015, Ender Balkaya v Kiesel Abbruch- und Recycling Technik GmbH, C-229/14, ECLI:EU:C:2015:455; 17 November 2016, Betriebsrat der Ruhrlandklinik gGmbH v Ruhrlandklinik gGmbH, C-216/15, ECLI:EU:C:2016:883; 16 July 2020, UX v Governo della Repubblica italiana, C- 658/18, ECLI:EU:C:2020:572; and order of the Court of Justice of 22 April 2020, B v Yodel Delivery Network Ltd, C-692/19, ECLI:EU:C:2020:288.
Amendment 343 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) Criteria indicating that a digital labour platform controls the performance of work should be included in the Directive in order to make the legal presumption operational and facilitate the enforcement of workers’ rights. Those criteria should be inspired by Union and national case law and take into account national concepts of the employment relationship. The criteria should include concrete elements showing that the digital labour platform, for instance, determines in practice and not merely recommends the working conditions or the remuneration or both, gives instructions on how the work is to be performed or prevents the person performing platform work from developing business contacts with potential clients. In order for it to be effective in practice, two criteria should be always fulfilled to trigger the application of the presumption,. At the same time, the criteria should not cover situations where the persons performing platform work are genuine self-employed. Genuine self-employed persons are themselves responsible vis-à-vis their customers for how they perform their work and the quality of their outputs. The freedom to choose working hours or periods of absence, to refuse tasks, to use subcontractors or substitutes or to work for any third party is characteristic of genuine self-employment. Therefore, de facto restricting such discretions by a number of conditions or through a system of sanctions, should also be considered as an element of controlling the performance of work. Closely supervising the performance of work or thoroughly verifying the quality of the results of that work, including through electronic means, which does not merely consist in using reviews or ratings by the recipients of the service, should also be considered as an element of controlling the performance of work. At the same time, digital labour platforms should be able to design their technical interfaces in a way to ensure good consumer experience. Measures or rules which are required by law or which are necessary to safeguard the health and safety of the recipients of the service should not be understood as controlling the performance of work.
Amendment 349 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 26
Recital 26
(26) Effective implementation of the legal presumption through appropriate measures, such as disseminating information to the public, developing guidance and strengthening controls and field inspections is essential to ensure legal certainty and transparency for all parties involved. These measures should take into account the specific situation of start-ups to support the entrepreneurial potential and the conditions for the sustainable growth of digital labour platforms in the Union.
Amendment 399 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 33
Recital 33
(33) Digital labour platforms and undertakings using artificial intelligence and algorithms for staff management should not be required to disclose the detailed functioning of their automated monitoring and decision-making systems, including algorithms, or other detailed data that contains commercial secrets or is protected by intellectual property rights. However, the result of those considerations should not be a refusal to provide all the information required by this Directive.
Amendment 408 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 37
Recital 37
(37) In that context, persons performing platform workers should have the right to obtain an explanation from the digital labour platform or the undertaking for a decision, the lack of decision or a set of decisions taken or supported by automated systems that significantly affect their working conditions. For that purpose the digital labour platform, undertakings should provide the possibility for them to discuss and clarify the facts, circumstances and reasons for such decisions with a human contact person at the digital labour platform. In addition, digital labour platforms should provide the person performing platformnd should provide workers with a written statement of reasons for any decision toincluding decisions regarding the restriction, suspend or terminate that person’ssion or closure of the account, to refuse the remuneration for work performed by that person,e worker or affecting his or her contractual status, as such decisions are likely to have significant negative effects on persons performing platform work, in particular their potential earnings. Where the explanation or reasons obtained are not satisfactory or where persons performing platform workers consider their rights infringed, they should also have the right to request the digital labour platformundertaking to review the decision and to obtain a substantiated reply within a reasonable period of time. Where such decisions infringe those persons’ rights, such as labour rights or the right to non- discrimination, the undertakings, including the digital labour platforms should rectify such decisions without delay or, where that is not possible, provide adequate compensation.
Amendment 415 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 39
Recital 39
(39) Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council64 establishes a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the Union. The introduction of or substantial changes in the use of automated monitoring and decision-making systems by undertakings and digital labour platforms have direct impacts on the work organisation and individual working conditions of platform workers. Additional measures are necessary to ensure that undertakings and digital labour platforms inform and consult platform workers or their most representative unions before such decisions are taken, at the appropriate level and, given the technical complexity of algorithmic management systems, with the assistance of an expert chosen by the platform workers or their union representatives in a concerted manner where needed. __________________ 64 Directive 2002/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2002 establishing a general framework for informing and consulting employees in the European Community (OJ L 80, 23.3.2002, p. 29).
Amendment 421 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 40
Recital 40
(40) Persons who do not have an employment relationship constitute a significant part of the persons performing platform work. The impact of automated monitoring and decision-making systems used by digital labour platforms on their working conditions and their earning opportunities is similar to that on platform workers. Therefore, the rights in Articles 6, 7 and 8 of this Directive pertaining to the protection of natural persons in relation to the processing of personal data in the context of algorithmic management, namely those regarding transparency on automated monitoring and decision-making systems, restrictions to process or collect personal data, human monitoring and review of significant decisions, should also apply to persons in the Union performing platform work who do not have an employment contract or employment relationship. The rights pertaining to health and safety at work and information and consultation of platform workers or their union representatives, which are specific to workers in view of Union law, should not apply to them. Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 provides safeguards regarding fairness and transparency for self- employed persons performing platform work, provided that they are considered business users within the meaning of that Regulation. Where such safeguards conflict with elements of specific rights and obligations laid down in this Directive, the specific provisions of Regulation (EU) 2019/1150 should prevail in respect of business users.
Amendment 423 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 41
Recital 41
(41) In order to ensure that digital labour platforms comply with labour legislation and regulations, social security contribution obligations, social security coordination and other relevant rules, in particular if they are established in another country than the Member State in which the platform worker is performing work, digital labour platforms should declare work performed by platform workers to the competent labour and social protection authorities of the Member State in which the work is performed, in accordance with the rules and procedures laid down in the law of the Member States concerned, so as to avoid social and fiscal dumping. To this end, the European Labour Authority must promote exchanges of information between Member States and carry out joint inspections to ensure the proper implementation of the legislation.
Amendment 428 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 42
Recital 42
(42) Information on the number of persons performing platform work through digital labour platforms on a regular basis, their contractual or employment status and the general terms and conditions applicable to those contractual relationships is essential to support labour inspectorates, social protection bodies and other relevant authorities in correctly determining the employment status of persons performing platform work and in ensuring compliance with legal obligations as well as union representatives of persons performing platform work in the exercise of their representative functions and should therefore be made accessible to them. Those authorities and representatives should also have the right to ask digital labour platforms for additional clarifications and details, such as basic data on working conditions regarding working time and remuneration.
Amendment 435 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 44
Recital 44
(44) RUnion representatives of persons performing platform work should be able to represent one or several persons performing platform work in any judicial or administrative procedure to enforce any of the rights or obligations arising from this Directive. Bringing claims on behalf of or supporting several persons performing platform work is a way to facilitate proceedings that would not have been brought otherwise because of procedural and financial barriers or a fear of reprisals.
Amendment 442 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 45
Recital 45
(45) Platform work is characterised by the lack of a common workplace where workers can get to know each other and communicate with each other and with their union representatives, also in view of defending their interests towards the employer. It is therefore necessary to create digital communication channels, in line with the digital labour platforms’ work organisation, where persons performing platform work can exchange with each other and be contacted by their union representatives. Digital labour platforms should create such communication channels within their digital infrastructure or through similarly effective means, while respecting the protection of personal data and refraining from accessing or monitoring those communications.
Amendment 445 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 46
Recital 46
(46) In administrative or judicial proceedings regarding the correct determination of the employment status of persons performing platform work, the elements regarding the organisation of work allowing to establish the employment status and in particular whether the digital labour platform controls certain elements of the performance of work may be in the possession of the digital labour platform and not easily accessible to persons performing platform work and competent authorities. National courts or competent authorities should therefore be able to order the digital labour platform to disclose any relevant evidence which lies in their control, including confidential information, subject to effective measures to protect such information.
Amendment 452 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 49
Recital 49
(49) Since the objective of this Directive, namely to improve working conditions in platform work, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the need to establish common minimum requirements, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.
Amendment 453 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 50
Recital 50
(50) This Directive lays down minimum requirements, thus leaving untouched Member States’ prerogative to introduce and maintain provisions which are more favourable for platform workers and workers subject to automated or semi- automated monitoring and decision- making systems. Rights acquired under the existing legal framework should continue to apply, unless more favourable provisions are introduced by this Directive. The implementation of this Directive cannot be used to reduce existing rights set out in existing Union or national law in this field, nor can it constitute valid grounds for reducing the general level of protection in the field covered by this Directive.
Amendment 454 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 51
Recital 51
Amendment 461 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. The purpose of this Directive is to improve the working conditions: – of persons performing platform work by ensuring the correct determination of their employment status, by promoting transparency, fairness, safety and accountability in algorithmic management in platform work and by improving transparency in platform work, including in cross-border situations, while supp; – of all workers whose wortking the conditions for the sustainable growth of digital labour platforms in the Unionand employment relationships are managed and monitored through the use of automated systems, in order to ensure the accessibility and transparency of algorithms.
Amendment 480 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 1 – paragraph 3 a (new)
Article 1 – paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Articles 6, 7, 8 and 9 shall also apply to all those whose working conditions are managed and monitored through the use of automated systems, in order to ensure the accessibility and transparency of algorithms and to all undertakings using such systems.
Amendment 519 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 5
(5) ‘representatives’ means the workers’ organisations or union representatives provided for by national law or practices, or both;
Amendment 578 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 4 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. The contractual relationship between a digital labour platform that controls, within the meaning of paragraph 2, the performance of work and a person performing platform work through that platform shall be legally presumed to be an employment relationship. To that effect, Member States shall establish a framework of measures, in accordance with their national legal and judicial systems.
Amendment 597 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Amendment 610 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point a
Amendment 620 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point b
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point b
Amendment 635 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point c
Amendment 644 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point d
Amendment 653 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point e
Article 4 – paragraph 2 – point e
Amendment 670 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
Article 4 – paragraph 3 – introductory part
3. Member States shall take supporting measures to ensure the effective implementation of the legal presumption referred to in paragraph 1 while taking into account the impact on start-ups, avoiding capturing the genuine self-employed and supporting the sustainable growth of digital labour platforms. In particular they shall:
Amendment 777 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 6 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. Without prejudice to the obligations and rights of digital labour platforms and platform workers under Directive (EU) 2019/1152, Member States shall require digital labour platforms to inform platand undertakings using automated staff management and monitoring systems to inform workers of:
Amendment 801 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b – point iv a (new)
Article 6 – paragraph 2 – point b – point iv a (new)
(iva) an explanation of the functioning of the system and its compliance with EU and national law and with collective agreements;
Amendment 807 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 4
Article 6 – paragraph 4
4. Digital labour platforms shall make the information referred to in paragraph 2 available to platform workers’union representatives and national labour authorities upon their request.
Amendment 822 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 6 – paragraph 5 – point c
Article 6 – paragraph 5 – point c
(c) process any personal data in relation to private conversations, including exchanges with platform workers’union representatives;
Amendment 848 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that digital labour platforms and undertakings using automated management and monitoring systems regularly monitor and evaluate the impact of individual decisions taken or supported by automated monitoring and decision-making systems, as referred to in Article 6(1), on working conditions.
Amendment 853 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a
(a) evaluate the risks of automated monitoring and decision-making systems to the safety and health of platform workers, in particular as regards possible risks of work-related accidents, psychosocial and ergonomic risks;
Amendment 859 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – subparagraph 1
They shall not use automated monitoring and decision-making systems in any manner that puts undue pressure on platform workers or otherwise puts at risk their physical and mental health of platform workers.
Amendment 874 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. Member States shall ensure that platform workers have the right to obtain an explanation from the digital labour platform for any decision taken or supported by an automated decision- making system that significantly affects the platform worker’s working conditions, as referred to in Article 6(1), point (b). In particular, Member States shall ensure that digital labour platforms provide platform workers withhave access to a contact person designated by the digital labour platform to discuss and to clarify the facts, circumstances and reasons having led to the decision. Digital labour platforms and undertakings shall ensure that such contact persons have the necessary competence, training and authority to exercise that function.
Amendment 894 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 8 – paragraph 3
Article 8 – paragraph 3
3. Where the decision referred to in paragraph 1 infringes the platform worker’s rights, the digital labour platform or undertaking shall rectify that decision without delay or, where such rectification is not possible, offer adequate compensation.
Amendment 908 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
1. Without prejudice to the rights and obligations under Directive 2002/14/EC, Member States shall ensure information and consultation of platform workers’union representatives or, where there are no such representatives, of the platform workers concerned by digital labour platforms, on decisions likely to lead to the introduction of or substantial changes in the use of automated monitoring and decision-making systems referred to in Article 6(1), in accordance with this Article.
Amendment 919 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 9 – paragraph 3
Article 9 – paragraph 3
3. The platform workers’union representatives or the platform workers concerned may be assisted by an expert of their choice, in so far as this is necessary for them to examine the matter that is the subject of information and consultation and formulate an opinion. Where a digital labour platform has more than 500 platform workers in a Member State, the expenses for the expert shall be borne by the digital labour platform, provided that they are proportionate.