What Foodora ruling means for the gig economy
The recent ruling that a former Foodora delivery rider was an employee and not an independent contractor has put pressure on the business model of other gig economy rivals Uber Eats and Deliveroo.
The Fair Work Commission ordered Foodora, which has since gone into voluntary administration, to pay Josh Klooger $16,000.
Commissioner Ian Cambridge took into account Foodora's "batching system", which was used as a device to rank workers, giving them opportunities to work at better times depending on performance, in addition to the uniform and Foodora branded equipment, as factors that contributed towards employment status.
Experts say the ruling last week by the Fair Work Commission has put the business models of competitors under increased scrutiny.
Almost a million self-employed Australians work on a freelance or project basis, rather than in permanent jobs, according to this year’s the Future of Work inquiry which was chaired by Labor senator Murray Watt.
"It's a landmark decision that will fundamentally reshape work in the gig economy and will reshape the rights of workers in that economy," he told The Sydney Morning Herald. "Companies like Uber Eats and Deliveroo should be very worried by this decision.
"It's a great decision for Foodora workers but there are huge numbers of other gig workers engaged by other gig companies who continue to be faced with precarious employment and below-award pay. People often think about the Ubers, Foodoras and Deliveroos, but we are seeing this gig work spread to aged care, childcare and disability care."
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Anthony Forsyth, professor of workplace law at RMIT University, said gig economy companies had used complex systems to control the way people do work while maintaining the workers were independent contractors.
"This is high level of control normally found in employment," Forsyth said. "This decision blows this open, saying to these companies you can't have it both ways."
Sheridan Randall, 21st November 2018
