The regulations, which got here into effect on September 3, introduced protections for gig staff within the province, including a minimum wage, mileage compensation, upfront fare transparency, and rules for account deactivation and dispute resolution. The regulations also allow staff to access staff’ compensation through WorkSafeBC, a provincial agency that supports injured staff.
If you are a gig employee or need to work through an app, here’s what you’ll want to know concerning the rights you have got across the country.
What led to latest protections for gig staff in BC?
The regulations are the results of years of efforts by unions and gig staff themselves to cover gig work through provincial employment standards. Under provincial labor law, app-based staff are considered independent contractors quite than employees, meaning they are usually not entitled to traditional employment protections equivalent to a minimum wage and rules on notice and severance pay. Gig work platforms are also not required to make Employment Insurance (EI) or Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions on behalf of gig staff.
According to Statistics Canada’s December 2023 workforce survey, the workforce for ride-sharing and delivery platforms, including Uber, DoorDash, SkipTheDishes and Lyft, grew by 46% in 2023. That brought the full variety of staff ages 16 to 69 to 365,000, up from 250,000 in 2022. Nearly six in 10 of those staff were rural immigrants.
B.C.’s rules are a “step in the right direction,” says Jim Stanford, an economist and director of the Center for Future Work, a progressive research institute. But gig work continues to be largely the “Wild West of employment,” he says, and there are few options for staff to implement their rights.
Wages for gig staff
BC is the primary province or territory to adopt a minimum wage for gig staff. At $20.88 per hour, the speed is 120% of the regular provincial minimum wage of $17.40 per hour. This only applies to “committed time”, i.e. the time that drivers and couriers actually spend on operations – hence the wage complement. Employees whose hours of employment in a particular pay period fall below the gig employee minimum wage might be matched by the platform on the time of pay. (Tips are usually not included within the minimum wage calculation.)
“The equation is difficult and not perfect, but it aims to address idle time when someone is waiting to pick up a person or a package,” says Pablo Godoy, director of emerging sectors at United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW), a personal sector union. UFCW Canada signed an agreement with Uber Canada in 2022 This made the union the official representative of Uber drivers and delivery staff across the country.
Tips and vehicle allowances
Under the brand new laws, BC has mandated that platforms pay staff 100% of their suggestions. A vehicle allowance was also introduced to compensate staff for the prices of maintaining their vehicles. Drivers will receive 45 cents per kilometer for personal vehicles and 35 cents per kilometer for other types of transportation, including motorized e-bikes and bicycles. (Those traveling on foot are usually not entitled to the allowance.)
