Platform Workers Bill passed in Parliament to strengthen protections for platform workers
27 September 2024
On 10 September 2024, the Platform Workers Bill (“Bill”) was passed in Parliament, with the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM”) issuing a press release on the Bill the previous day.
The Bill was introduced to strengthen protections for platform workers in three areas: (i) housing and retirement adequacy through Central Provident Fund (“CPF”) contributions by both platform operators and workers, (ii) financial compensation if they get injured while working, and (iii) a legal framework for representation. Our article “New Platform Workers Bill introduced in Parliament” is available here.
The Bill amends certain Acts - such as the Central Provident Fund Act 1953, Income Tax Act 1947, Industrial Relations Act 1960, Trade Disputes Act 1941, Trade Unions Act 1940, Work Injury Compensation Act 2019 (“WICA”), and Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006 (“WSHA”) - to provide for the rights, obligations, protections, and representation of platform workers and platform operators under those Acts. The Bill also makes consequential and related amendments to other Acts.
Defining platform operators and platform workers
MOM explains that as the relationship between platform operators and platform workers is distinct from employment or freelancing, the Bill creates a new category of workers in addition to employees and the self-employed.
“Platform operators” are defined as companies that:
- have an agreement with users to provide ride-hail or delivery services to the users;
- use data to automate decision making relating to platform workers, in areas such as task assignment and how much platform workers are paid per task; and
- impose rules, requirements, or prohibitions on platform workers.
“Platform workers” are defined as workers who:
- have an agreement with a platform operator to provide ride-hail or delivery services in Singapore to users for the platform operator and from this, derive any payment or benefit in kind; and
- are subject to the control of platform operators, such as what tasks are assigned to them and how much they are paid.
Platform workers will be given an earnings slip that specifies their status as a platform worker.
Requirement for notification of platform operator status
The Bill will require companies to self-assess whether they are a platform operator and to notify MOM if they assess themselves to be a platform operator. MOM will provide resources such as a checklist which will be published on the MOM website. Upon notification, the company will be added to a list of platform operators on MOM’s website. Workers can refer to this list to ascertain whether they should receive platform worker protections.
CPF contribution for housing and retirement adequacy
CPF contribution rates for platform workers and platform operators will be gradually increased over five years to match that for employees and employers. The increases will be by up to 2.5%-points per year and up to 3.5%-points per year respectively. These CPF contributions will go to platform workers’ Ordinary, Special and MediSave Accounts monthly, and will help platform workers to achieve the same level of housing and retirement adequacy as employees who earn the same amount.
The increased CPF contributions will be mandatory for platform workers born on or after 1 January 1995. Older platform workers can choose to opt in to the increased CPF contributions if they wish to. Platform workers can opt in via the CPF website from November 2024 and the decision is irreversible. Older platform workers who do not opt in will continue to be required to make CPF MediSave contributions, and will not receive the platform operator’s share of CPF contributions. Platform operators will deduct the CPF contributions from platform workers’ earnings and transmit them to the CPF Board monthly for all platform workers, including the MediSave contributions for those who do not opt in.
MOM will enhance the Platform Workers CPF Transition Support (“PCTS”) to ease the impact on platform workers’ take-home pay. Eligible lower-income platform workers who see an increase in their share of CPF contributions to the Ordinary and Special Accounts, will be supported through the enhanced PCTS. The enhanced PCTS will offset 100% platform workers’ share of the increase in CPF Ordinary and Special Account contributions in 2025, meaning that the Government will pay fully for the increase in platform workers’ CPF contributions in 2025. The offset for 2026 will be increased to 75%, from the 50% offset earlier announced. Lower-income platform workers will continue to be supported through the Workfare Income Supplement Scheme. Details on the computation and collection of CPF contributions, as well as Government’s support for lower-income platform workers are set out at Annex B to the MOM press release.
On-the-job protection through work injury compensation (“WIC”)
To provide compensation to platform workers during their recuperation from work injuries, platform operators must provide their platform workers with WIC insurance at the same level of coverage as employees under the WICA. Platform operators and platform workers will also have legal duties to play their part in preventing work-related safety incidents. Details on when platform workers can claim for WIC, the types and computation of compensation, and amendments to the WSHA are set out at Annex C to the MOM press release.
Legal framework for representation of platform workers
To allow platform workers to organise and represent the interests of fellow platform workers, the Government will set up a legal representation framework for platform workers where platform work associations (“PWAs”) will be able to represent platform workers in negotiations with platform operators. MOM will appoint registrars to regulate and oversee the activities by PWAs.
A PWA must apply to the Registry of PWAs to be registered. Registered PWAs can represent platform workers and negotiate on their behalf if they obtain mandate to do so, either through recognition by a platform operator or a ballot among its members.
Application of fixed expense deduction amount for work injury compensation and CPF contributions
To streamline processes for WIC claims and CPF contributions, a Fixed Expense Deduction Amount (“FEDA”) will be applied to all platform workers’ gross earnings to derive platform workers’ net earnings (i.e. gross earnings minus the FEDA). The net earnings will be used to compute WIC quantum and CPF contributions. The FEDA depends on platform workers’ mode of transport and reflects expenses for the majority of platform workers. The application of the FEDA will remove the administrative hassle for platform workers and platform operators to manually track and compute platform workers’ individual business expenses.
Reference materials
The following materials are available on the Parliament website www.parliament.gov.sg and the MOM website www.mom.gov.sg: