Gig Economy Couriers Get Safer and Fairer Conditions

Victorians who own and drive their own vehicles to earn a living will soon find work conditions safer and fairer, according to new changes introduced by the state Labor Government.

Amendments to the Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act are designed to ensure these workers – including drivers that work for delivery services such as UberEats and Deliveroo – are paid correctly, are safer at work, and have access to the information they need to operate successfully.

Under the reforms, hirers and brokers now face penalties if they don’t comply with the Act – fines of more than $16,500 as a body corporate or nearly $10,000 as an individual.

The changes will benefit owner-operators that supply and operate one to three vehicles, including bicycles to deliver goods, and are contractors, not legal employees. Those that provide passenger freight services are not covered by the Act.

A recent review found many hirers and brokers were breaching the Act by not providing information about rates and costs to owner-drivers or forestry contractors.

Contractual arrangements were also not being properly recorded, with owner-operators left with little recourse to pursue legal action if they wanted to contest issues. This led to unreasonably high safety, income and business risks for owner-operators in these industries.

As such, the definition of ‘freight broker’ has been changed to make sure contractors employed through third-party platforms like UberEats are covered.

This means small business couriers in the gig economy like UberEats and Deliveroo can now access the Victorian Small Business Commission (VSBC) to help resolve their disputes.

VSBC Commissioner Judy O’Connell backed the change to the dispute resolution process, and said the new VSBC role would provide further supports for disputes that can’t be resolved through mediation.

“This new support is significant because it means gig economy small business couriers who are in dispute can come to us for determinations that are binding, keeping their disputes out of the court system.”

In 2018–19 the VSBC received 23 applications for small business driver disputes, about 85 per cent of which were successfully resolved. Where disputes couldn’t be resolved, this was because the parties couldn’t reach an agreement or the business contracting the service refused to take part in mediation.

“In a lot of instances, it’s just not worthwhile taking these matters to court because of the high costs involved – costs that are prohibitive for many small businesses.”

“This important change means small business couriers will have access to a low cost, confidential and binding dispute resolution process that will let them resolve their disputes quickly so they can get back to business.”

The VSBC will start providing these new supports in May 2020.