The Digital Platform Delivery Wages Order (Order) confirms the commitment of the Government of Malta to tackle precarious work by ensuring the establishment of the minimum standards of working conditions which guarantee the quality of life of such workers.

The order will ensure that the persons engaged to provide paid delivery services of any consumer product, is granted access to labour and social protection rights by ensuring the correct determination of their employment status, by promoting transparency, fairness, and accountability in algorithmic management in respect of platform work and by enhancing transparency, traceability, and awareness of developments in relation to this new form of work.

This legal instrument establishes that all platform workers shall be considered as employees and thus, they shall benefit from all the rights granted to all employees, such as minimum wage, working conditions for example overtime rates, vacation leave, sick leave etc.

Platform workers will also be given the right on other specific elements which are peculiar to this new form of work. This include information on how the automated system works, including the decision-making system’s algorithm which are used to take decisions which significantly impact the conditions of the worker in this sector. Included with the latter, the employer shall make available the information on the automated monitoring systems which are used to monitor, supervise or evaluate the work performance of platform workers.

The Order presumes that there is a pre-existent employment relation on all current platform workers. Therefore, all platform workers after the expiry of 3 months of the publication of this order will be deemed to be employees of either the digital labour platform or any intermediary agency which the person engaged to render the delivery service.

The Order, defines a mechanism through which the presumed employer, that is, the Digital Labour Platform or the work agency, or the same presumed employee can claim that there is no employment relationship. In such case the claimant must prove that the current relationship does not fulfil at least 4 of the following criteria:
1. the effective determination of, or stipulating the maximum limits for the level of remuneration;
2. that the person performing digital platform work is required to respect specific binding rules with regards to appearance and conduct towards the recipient of the service or performance of the work;
3. that supervision is carried out on the performance of the work or the verification of the quality of the results of the work, including by electronic means;
4.the effective restriction of the freedom, including through sanctions, to organise one’s working hours or periods of absence, to accept or to refuse tasks or the use of subcontractors or substitutes;
5.the effective restrictions of the possibility to build a client base or to perform work for any third party.

However, where the digital labour platform, the work agency or the platform worker claim that there is no employment relationship, the said party is responsible to provide all the necessary proof of the non-existent employment relationship and that such worker shall not be deemed as an employee of the platform nor the agency. Nevertheless, until the proceedings are completed, and such claims are verified by the respective authorities the worker in question shall still be deemed as an employee until the conclusion of such proceedings, and thus such platform worker and the employer shall remain subject to this regulation until such proceedings are completed.

The presumed employer shall treat the worker in question and grant all the rights and treat the worker as an employee until the proceedings are concluded and verification of such claims are concluded.

The presumed employer is also responsible in accordance with this order to collaborate with the National Authorities and provide all the relevant information as required by the said authorities to determine the veracity of such claim.