Guidelines to protect gig workers

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently released three guidelines on protecting the working rights of the flexibly employed and those engaged in new forms of employment linked to online platforms.

The gig workers covered by the guidelines are those offering services in fields including delivery, ride-hailing and domestic services.

Shen Jianfeng, a professor from China University of Labor Relations, told Xinhua News Agency that the inclusion of people serving in new forms of employment in the minimum wage guarantee system was the biggest change in the guidelines.

They require employers — mainly platforms and human resources companies cooperating with them — to set reasonable workloads and schedules to avoid adverse impacts on employees' health.

Reasonable payment mechanisms setting out commissions and payment schedules should be clearly defined, and employers should pay higher salaries to flexibly employed workers on duty during official holidays. They should also pay them in currency rather than marketable securities such as company shares or other forms of payment.

Reducing pay or being late to pay salaries without good reason is also prohibited.

Flexibly employed workers and people serving in new forms of employment must be free to complain to platforms about their salaries, workloads and workplace bullying, and be able to negotiate with employers whenever they feel their working rights are being encroached on.

The guidelines say flexibly employed workers and people serving in new forms of employment have the right to join trade unions, and trade unions have a responsibility to offer legal assistance to such workers and supervise platforms' employment practices.

The ministry said the guidelines will help platforms and human resources companies optimize their labor management systems, which will help protect workers' rights and allow platforms to develop in a healthier and more sustainable way.

The ministry said surveys it conducted had uncovered problems including unreasonable workloads, incomplete coverage by minimum wage standards and inconvenient channels for complaining about infringements of rights.

"These guidelines can better guide employers to set up reasonable work schedules and payment systems," it said. "Governments of all levels, courts and trade unions can also assist the flexibly employed and people serving in new forms of employment in the event of labor disputes."