Gig workers gain rights in B.C. — and momentum across Canada
Gig workers gain rights in B.C. — and momentum across Canada
In B.C., certain gig workers are now entitled to minimum wage and travel reimbursements. Lawyers say further protections are on the horizon
On Tuesday, “gig workers” who drive for platforms like Uber and Lyft in British Columbia gained the right to be paid a minimum wage for their work. Lawyers say many more provinces may follow suit.
“What it signals for us is a growing awareness that these people in this industry deserve some protections and some minimum standards,” said Paul Edwards, a Winnipeg labour and employment lawyer who is representing workers in a class-action lawsuit against the food delivery company SkipTheDishes.
Last month, workers in that case won an important victory when the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear SkipTheDishes’s appeal to stop the lawsuit from proceeding. The lawsuit, which has yet to be certified, claims SkipTheDishes’s workers should be considered employees, which would entitle them to minimum wage and other protections.
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I've never understood how we haven't been considered employees as gig workers.
The only difference from a typical job is that you can "turn off" your job when it's convenient.
You dont get say in the jobs you take, or you don't get all the information to mislead you into taking poor jobs. Sometimes both (looking at you door dash)
Instacart sends you a t4a at the end of the year, and you are for tax purposes considered to have worked for them. But they don't have to pay into any of our various employee protections because loopholes?
They can terminate your "not employment" at any time for any reason and use this as a method to force you to do things you don't want to.
All while paying you less than minimum wage. Instacart specifically is very bad for this. They give you a "predicted shop time " which will often be in the realm of 30-40 mins + 10-20 travel time to and from the store. And the batch will be valued at less then $15m
If then acknowledge that the job will take X amount of time, the base pay needs to hit $15/h x est time.
Same goes for all gig jobs.