China Justice Observer

中司观察

EnglishArabicChinese (Simplified)DutchFrenchGermanHindiItalianJapaneseKoreanPortugueseRussianSpanishSwedishHebrewIndonesianVietnameseThaiTurkishMalay

Ride-hailing Drivers in China: Not Employees, But Independent Contractors

Sun, 02 Jan 2022
Categories: Insights

avatar

Key Highlights

  • Drivers in ride-hailing platforms like Uber are not employees, but independent contractors, pursuant to a Chinese government policy issued in August 2021.
  • To strike a balance between platform operators and workers, the policy also emphasizes that the platforms should treat workers like employees in certain aspects.
  • Under the policy, among the obligations that employers shall assume, the platform has been exempted from making social insurance contributions, but other obligations, like the duty to ensure minimum wages and rights to rest, shall still be discharged by the platform.

On 18 Aug. 2021, China’s government announced a policy, officially confirming that drivers in ride-hailing platforms like Uber are not employees, but independent contractors.

However, the policy also emphasizes that the platforms should treat workers like employees in certain aspects.

The policy is titled the “Guiding Opinions on Protecting the Rights and Interests of Employees under New Forms of Employment” (the “Guiding Opinions”, 关于维护新就业形态劳动者劳动保障权益的指导意见), which was approved on 16 July 2021 by China's State Council.

The Guiding Opinions seeks to strike a balance between platform operators and workers.

I. Background of the Guiding Opinions

In China, previously the ride-hailing platforms like Uber were not recognized as employers. The number of workers on such platforms is extremely large, and they are subject to rigorous management by the platform.

It has led to public discontent.

In China, such problems mainly arise in two areas.

One is transportation sharing platforms, under which drivers and passengers are connected in ride-sharing services and the like. Among them, the largest platform in China is Didi, which was listed on New York Stock Exchange early in July 2021. Besides, there are several platforms that offer similar services, both ride-hailing, and freight services.

The other is the food delivery platform, which enables food delivery workers to connect the restaurant and the customers. The biggest platform of this kind in China is Meituan, which was listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2018. Meituan and Eleme, Alibaba's food delivery platform, cornered the food delivery market.

According to the news, the number of drivers on hide-railing platforms alone has reached 3.51 million, while the number of delivery workers on food delivery platforms has reached 7.7 million. It means that in China, there are more than 11 million workers on these two kinds of platforms.

Additionally, as statistics provided by the State Information Center of China shows, the number of workers working on various sharing economy platforms in China has already reached 84 million.

However, for a long time, such platforms did not sign labor contracts with these workers, nor did they recognize workers as their employees.

The platforms cooperate with the workers in two ways:

As one of two ways, the workers have a service relationship with the platform as independent contractors, so that the platforms are not employers of the workers.

The other way works through an arrangement called ‘labor dispatch’. The workers enter into employment contracts with small and medium-sized labor dispatch companies as their employees, and the labor dispatch companies then enter into outsourcing service contracts with the platforms. Not directly being the employers, the platforms don’t need to worry whether these labor dispatch companies ensure workers’ legitimate rights.

For the platforms, this allows them not to assume the employer's legal obligations. For example:

First, they do not bear some of the employers’ costs, such as making social insurance contributions for workers, which will increase the cost of using workers by at least 30%.

Secondly, their management of the workers is not restricted by the labor law, so the platforms implement extremely strict management on the workers. For example, platforms use algorithms to exploit workers' working hours and commission rates. 

This has led to widespread public criticism of the sharing economy platform in the field of labor protection.

However, policymakers also seem to be concerned that making platforms assume all obligations of employers may severely crackdown on their business operation and lead to a reduction of jobs, which may result in significant unemployment.

Therefore, the Guiding Opinions aims to seek a balance between platforms and workers. On the one hand, it does not identify the platform as an employer; on the other hand, it also requires the platform to bear some of the obligations of employers.

II. What does the Guiding Opinions say

1. Workers are not employees of the platform

If the platform and workers "do not fully meet the conditions for establishing the employment relationship, but the platform conducts labor management over workers", “the platform shall enter into agreements with workers in writing to reasonably clarify their respective rights and obligations".

Therefore, the documents signed between the platforms and workers are simply written agreements rather than "employment contracts".

“Where an individual replies on the platform to conduct business activities, and engages in freelance activities, etc., the rights and obligations of both parties shall be adjusted in accordance with the civil law."

Under Chinese laws, “civil law” does not include “labor law”, which means that the relationship between the workers and the platform is not protected by the labor law.

The policy recognizes that workers are not employees of the platform, so the platform is not obliged to make social insurance contributions, which results in significant cost savings for the platform.

2. Workers will make social insurance contributions for themselves, and the platform does not need to bear the cost

The government will organize workers to participate in the basic endowment insurance and basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents, and the platform will guide workers to participate in these insurance programs.

The expression “the insurance for residents” rather than “insurance for employees” means that, under China’s social insurance regime, the workers shall make their own social insurance contributions.

3. The platform shall ensure workers entitled to minimum wage

Although the workers are not employees of the platform, the platform shall still “pay remunerations not lower than the local minimum wage to the workers who provide normal work timely and in full amount, and shall not make unreasonable deductions or delay in payment without reason."

4. The platform shall ensure reasonable working hours 

The government will urge the industry to “determine workers’ workload and labor intensity in a scientific way”, and urge platforms to “reasonably determine rest methods as required and pay reasonable remunerations for the workers working on statutory holidays higher than those working for normal working hours.”

In other words, the platform shall respect workers' right to rest and pay them overtime wages in the same way as the employers treat their employees.

5. The platform shall not use algorithms and rules to exploit the workers

When formulating algorithms and rules, the platform shall solicit opinions and suggestions from trade unions or workers’ representatives, and publicize and inform workers of the results. The trade union or workers’ representatives also have the right to request the platform to consult with them at any time. Workers have the right to appeal to the platform.

III. Our comments

The Guiding Opinions is essentially to require both the platforms and workers to make a compromise.

The workers waive the right to request the platform to make social insurance contributions so as to avoid the reduction of jobs if the platform bore such costs.

Among the obligations that employers shall assume, the platform has been exempted from making social insurance contributions, but other obligations shall still be discharged by the platform.

We don't know yet whether such compromise is reasonable. But at least, it's a big step forward from the previous situation where workers' rights were not guaranteed at all.

 

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

Contributors: Guodong Du 杜国栋

Save as PDF

You might also like

Authenticating Documents for Use in Chinese Courts: Apostille or Not?

The 1961 Apostille Convention, effective in China as of November 2023, simplifies the authentication of foreign documents for use in Chinese courts by replacing traditional consular legalization with apostille. Note that authentication is only required for certain types of documents under Chinese law, and the apostille process applies only when the 1961 Convention is relevant.

Chinese Court Refuses to Recognize Russian Judgment Due to Due Process

In 2020, a local Chinese court in Beijing ruled against the recognition and enforcement of a Russian monetary judgment on the grounds that the party in absentia had not been properly summoned (the case of Chepetsky Mechanical Plant Joint-Stock Company (2020) Jing 04 Xie Wai Ren No. 2).

First Thai Monetary Judgment Enforced in China, Highlighting Presumptive Reciprocity in China-ASEAN Region

In 2024, a local Chinese court in Nanning, Guangxi, ruled to recognize and enforce a Thai monetary judgment. Apart from being the first case of enforcing Thai monetary judgments in China, it is also the first publicly reported case confirming a reciprocal relationship based on “presumptive reciprocity” (Guangxi Nanning China Travel Service Co., Ltd. v. Orient Thai Airlines Co., Ltd. (2023) Gui 71 Xie Wai Ren No. 1).

Decoding the Turning Point: A Closer Look at China’s Recognition of Japanese Bankruptcy

This follow-up article focuses on the Chinese Court's detailed review of the Shanghai International Corporation case in 2023, highlighting the significance of reciprocity in cross-border bankruptcy proceedings and underscoring China's evolving approach to recognizing foreign judgments (See In re Shanghai International Corporation (2021) Hu 03 Xie Wai Ren No.1).

SPC Interprets International Treaties & Practices in Chinese Courts

In December 2023, China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) reaffirmed the supremacy of international treaties over domestic laws in foreign-related civil and commercial cases with its “Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of International Treaties and International Practices”(关于审理涉外民商事案件适用国际条约和国际惯例若干问题的解释).