Source: Radio New Zealand
AFP
Business groups says a Supreme Court decision that Uber drivers are employees rather than contractors could collapse the gig economy.
It comes after the Supreme Court unanimously decided to shut down Uber’s appeal against an Employment Court ruling in 2022 that drivers using the app were employees of Uber.
BusinessNZ chief executive Katherine Rich said the decision had far reaching implications for businesses that hired contractors.
“These types of businesses have become a part of our work and leisure, and are founded on a contractor model. If the employment status of platform workers becomes too rigid, then the conveniences we’ve come to enjoy could cease to be,” she said.
“Likewise if you are contracting with platforms like rideshare or delivery gigs to supplement your primary income, or working across multiple platforms, then you may be forced to re-evaluate.”
Rich said BusinessNZ had urged the government to take decisive action to give businesses more certainty.
“It’s an issue we’ve raised with the government before and if it isn’t resolved soon, it has the potential to make not just platform work unviable in New Zealand, but puts contracting employment in general at risk,” she said.
The Employers and Manufacturers Association, which is closely affiliated with BusinessNZ, said the Supreme Court’s decision showed New Zealand’s employment law needed to be updated.
“It highlights how our current legislation, and legislation around the world, is a bit out of date in terms of how we manage platform working,” head of advocacy Alan McDonald said.
“The cases that are cited in the judgement, they’re quite old. I think at least one of them maybe predates the whole platform working thing, so that’s part of the issue… We’ve got legislation that doesn’t know how to deal with this, so we’ve jammed new style working practices into old school legislation.”
He said businesses were concerned about the blurred line between contractors and employees.
“Everyone was keeping an eye on the Uber decision, but also wanted some more clarity around how you actually define what a contractor is because it’s pretty grey at the moment,” he said.
McDonald was hopeful that the Employment Relations Amendment Bill spearheaded by Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden would provide that clarity.
“I think it will give the clarity employers want. You need definitions that are clear. At the moment if you start as a contractor and then, I’ll exaggerate for effect, a few weeks or a few months later you say ‘oh, I just want to be an employee’ and you kind of can,” he said.
“The new law would say if you sign up as a contractor and you sign the contract then you’re a contractor.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
