This letter was originally published in The Straits Times on 9 July 2022.

The Association of Women for Action and Research is pleased to hear that the advisory committee on platform workers is adopting the principle that a delivery gig worker is not dissimilar from a worker who does delivery work as an employee, if they provide the same services to people (Work Injury Compensation Act may be applied to ’employee-like’ gig workers: Koh Poh Koon, July 5).

In Singapore, paid working relationships are divided into two broad categories: contract of service (an employer-employee relationship) and contract for service (a client-contractor relationship). Workers under contracts for service are not covered by employment-related legislation such as the Employment Act and the Workplace Injury Compensation Act (Wica).

While the Ministry of Manpower’s website lists a few factors for consideration (including who pays for employees’ wages, who provides work equipment and whose account the business is carried out on), there is currently no conclusive test to distinguish these two categories.

This is an issue for platform workers. As Senior Minister of State for Manpower Koh Poh Koon pointed out, these workers are currently categorised under contracts for service, but the nature of their work is closer to that of employees. They lack the professional autonomy of self-employed persons, and their contract terms and wage levels are subject to management controls exerted by the platforms and their algorithms.

Yet these platforms are not obliged to grant them statutory employment benefits and protections.

Many platform workers belong to low-income households. The absence of Central Provident Fund contributions, paid leave and medical benefits does little to alleviate their economic vulnerability.

Since January last year, five platform workers have been involved in fatal work-related traffic accidents. Another 62 sustained work injuries from 2018 to last year that resulted in permanent incapacity. Meanwhile, the insurance amounts paid by Grab, Deliveroo and other platforms fall short of the minimum compensation for employees’ permanent incapacity or accidental death under Wica.

Therefore, it is heartening that the Government is considering the committee’s recommendation to extend Wica’s coverage to include platform workers. This will enhance financial support for these workers if they are injured.

We hope the committee will also consider other measures to support platform workers, such as introducing a “dependent contractor” employment category to the existing framework. The committee should study the experiences of other countries in expanding the range of employment categories and extending statutory labour protections to workers accordingly.

Kimberly Wong
Research Executive
AWARE