Canadian Protections for Gig Workers Are Falling Flat
British Columbia is touting a bill that will protect gig workers from the worst depredations of the sector. However, in a familiar trend of industries outsmarting employment standards in the country, the bill is poised to fall short of its lofty promises.
A rider for Fantuan Delivery, an online food-delivery platform, rides an electric scooter along a street on September 5, 2020 in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. September 5, 2020. (Andrew Chin / Getty Images)
The government of British Columbia has announced its intention to introduce legislation to protect gig workers in the province. Key to this legislation is the formal recognition of gig workers as employees, a designation that entails specific minimum employment standards and inclusion under workers’ compensation provisions.
This surpasses Ontario’s enacted but not yet implemented gig worker protection law, which aimed to extend the provincial minimum wage to gig workers. It also sought to provide gig workers with information about pay calculation and required platforms to provide reasons in cases of worker deactivation.
The BC legislation not only establishes minimum employment standards and workers’ compensation for gig workers but also mandates a minimum wage set at 120 percent of the province’s rate, currently CA$16.75. It introduces transparency regarding pay and destinations, provides compensation for vehicle expenses, and requires platforms to implement a deactivation appeal process, enabling deactivated workers to present their own evidence.
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