"Portugal's gig-economy workers set to become staff", 22 October 2021

Portugal has moved a step closer to ordering digital platforms...to employ some of their drivers as staff with formal contracts and benefits...

The bill, which was approved by the government...but still needs to get the final stamp of approval from parliament, aims to grant thousands of riders working rights as employees and not freelancers...

Portugal's Labour Minister Ana Mendes Godinho said the bill assumes that a worker of the digital platform operator is staff with a formal contract whenever there is evidence of relationships between the platform, the worker who provides the service and the customers.

"Fighting precarious employment is one of our top priorities," Godinho told a news conference.

She said that digital platforms will also have "the obligation to transparently inform the Work Conditions Authority, workers and their representatives, about the criteria of algorithms and artificial intelligence mechanisms used."...