Bolt, the Estonia-based provider of ride-hailing service, has begun offering UK drivers holiday pay and a guarantee of the minimum wage on top of recent access to a company pension scheme, ahead of a court hearing next month on their employment status.
The latest changes, which came into force on Aug. 1, mean that drivers for the company will in effect have the rights afforded under UK law to workers, even though Bolt maintains they are self-employed independent contractors, the Financial Times said.
Bolt, which is currently preparing for an initial public offering, is competing for UK drivers who juggle work through several different platforms — including Uber, which already grants them worker status, as a result of a 2021 UK Supreme Court ruling.
Uber agreed to recognize UK drivers as “workers” following the ruling, a classification that grants them benefits including holiday pay and in some cases a pension. Gig economy companies have come under growing pressure to improve pay and conditions for drivers and couriers, facing strike action on both sides of the Atlantic earlier this year. They have also been fighting a series of legal challenges over workers’ status. California’s Supreme Court ruled last week that app-based ride-hailing and delivery services such as Uber and Lyft could continue treating drivers as independent contractors rather than employees in the state
Asked why it was offering drivers the same terms as workers, while still calling them self-employed, Bolt told the Financial Times the new supplements were “boosting drivers’ earnings and providing them with additional financial security.”
A spokesperson for Bolt told Postimees that all their drivers in the UK work as self-employed persons, and most of them appreciate the opportunity to be their own employer, as it is a flexible model where everyone controls their own earnings.
“However, some trade unions and their members wish for them [drivers] to be treated as employees of the Bolt platform and have taken this matter to court. As the case is ongoing, we cannot provide further comments on this topic,” Bolt’s communications manager Liisi Maria Aleksius said.
“Bolt has already brought a flexible pension model to drivers, and on August 1 we added a scheme offering the opportunity to earn at least the UK minimum wage and be paid for days off. This is a proactive move by Bolt, based on feedback from drivers who want to remain self-employed,” Aleksius added.
According to Bolt, different rules and models apply in each country.
“In Estonia, all Bolt drivers and couriers are either self-employed or provide services through a private limited company. This means that they fully regulate their working hours themselves and their income is paid into their company’s bank account, that is, the drivers themselves manage their income,” the spokesperson added.
Source: BNS
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