• The Federal Opposition has forecast an industrial relations policy proposal which could ensure workers in the gig economy can access to basic conditions offered to full-time employees.
• An employment law expert says app-based platforms such as Uber Eats are “effectively stacking the deck in their favour against vulnerable workers”.
• Uber said it hopes to “improve the quality of independent work in Australia.”
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Gig economy giants could be compelled to pay delivery riders a minimum wage under policy tweaks proposed by the federal opposition, as an employment law expert claims Uber Eats is “stacking the deck in their favour against vulnerable workers”.

The Australian Financial Review reports federal Labor is considering policy updates which will seek to clarify the employment status of app-based food deliverers.

The move comes days after Uber Eats revealed a new contract, which the Transport Workers Union claims was designed to obscure the company’s workplace obligations towards riders and drivers.

Speaking to the Australian Financial Review, shadow industrial relations minister Tony Burke said a truck driver could clearly be considered an independent contractor, but there’s “no way you can put a visa worker who delivers pizza on a second-hand bike in the same category.”

There exists a “complete cliff” between the protections of full employment and independent contractor status, Burke said.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese said on Saturday the future policy statement would “make sure that the growth in the gig economy doesn’t lead to third world conditions in a first world country,” the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Albanese added that ensuring entitlements for food deliverers was “not just a wages issue but a safety issue.”

The policy statement is yet to be revealed.

The news comes amid continual focus on gig economy platforms and their responsibilities towards workers, who often operate without access to paid leave, superannuation, or a minimum wage.

Andrew Rich, principal lawyer in industrial and employment law for Slater and Gordon, told Business Insider Australia that attempts to classify food deliverers as independent contractors “ignores the reality that they in fact work in Uber’s business, rather than in their own businesses.”

Pointing to a settled Federal Court case which could have forced food delivery apps to consider their deliverers as employees, Rich said there’s a “real question about how the traditional tests will apply to this sort of arrangement.”

Rich raised further concerns about workers compensation for independent contractors in the gig economy, saying Uber Eats is “effectively stacking the deck in their favour against vulnerable workers, who then have had their livelihoods potentially impacted when when and if they’re injured.”

His statement echoes a separate court case in which the family of 36-year-old Uber Eats food deliverer Dede Fredy, who was struck by a car and killed while working in Sydney last year, are seeking the compensation payable to the family of a full-time Uber employee.

Slater and Gordon also represents the family of Xiaojun Chen, another gig economy worker who was killed on the roads last year while delivering food for Hungry Panda, in a separate workers’ compensation claim.

“We say they need to be protected as workers and have access to the workers compensation insurance of Uber,” Rich said.

In response to enquiries from Business Insider Australia, an Uber Eats spokesperson pointed to a 2020 ruling from the full bench of the Fair Work Commission which found an Uber Eats rider was not an employee.

The spokesperson also referenced Uber Eats’ in-house ‘support package’ providing insurance for “on-trip accidents”, adding that workers “value the freedom and flexibility the Uber app provides.”

“We look forward to continuing our efforts to improve the quality of independent work in Australia,” the spokesperson said.

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