Paid Downtime
The worker's remuneration must correspond to all working time, that is, all the time they are logged into digital platforms. Being remunerated for all time available to a company is a genuine right.
Working Hours and Remuneration
The methods of remuneration for a worker may vary according to the contract established, and may be hourly, weekly, or, most commonly, monthly, with a monthly salary. However, in all these cases, the worker must be remunerated for all the time they are at the disposal of a company, whether it is a digital platform or not.
Even in situations where the employee is not directly performing an activity but is waiting for a request, their time cannot be considered time off work, since this waiting period does not give them the possibility to use it as they see fit.
Some jobs in the service sector clearly illustrate this need to compensate workers for the time they are available to employers. This is the case for shop assistants, supermarket cashiers, receptionists, clerks, nurses, caregivers, etc., who are also paid for the time they spend waiting for a specific demand, such as customers, for example. The time spent waiting for a new service or customer is also working time and should therefore be remunerated.
Time Logged is Work Time
Research shows that many digital platform workers, such as drivers and delivery personnel, have long working hours logged on to apps, as they need this permanent connection to be able to receive ride or delivery requests.
Algorithmic management of work, through automated scoring and ranking systems, bonuses, and penalties, can create differences between workers and use mechanisms to keep them available to platforms for as long as possible.
All this time logged in, however, does not translate into remuneration. Predominantly, jobs are organized on platforms so that workers are only paid for the time they are "engaged" in an activity, i.e., making deliveries or transporting passengers, for example. This often contributes to long and tiring working hours, negatively impacting their lives and those of their families.
However, the situation can be even more problematic for workers, since on many digital platforms, time spent logged in is not only unpaid but can also represent an expense for them.
Fuel costs, wear and tear on vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, internet usage, among other things, when they are available to the platforms but are not actually performing a ride or delivery, are borne by the workers themselves, which ends up reducing their income.
“In the facts of the present case, a driver’s workplace is wherever his vehicle is located at that moment [...] all time spent by a driver [...], including time ‘on duty’, connected to the app [...] and available to accept a ride request, is ‘working time’ within the meaning of the Directive and the Working Time Regulations.”
UK Supreme Court - Ruling on Private People Transportation Platforms
The Importance of Logged Time as Work Time
Working time and non-working time are distinct moments in a worker's day. Although they sometimes seem to overlap, the differences between the two become more evident when considering the criteria of who controls or directs that time.
When outside working hours, workers themselves control their time and can decide how to use it according to their daily needs, choosing the activities they will perform. On the contrary, when you are at the disposal of companies, including digital platforms, even in situations where you are not serving a customer or performing a service, you remain under the direction or command of your employer. You need to be available in these cases, waiting to be called by the platform, and therefore do not have the possibility to use your time as you wish.
In order for the services offered by the platforms to be continuous, stable, and available to users, these companies implement a work management system that pressures workers to remain logged into the apps for long periods of time. This considerably increases their working hours, requiring them to remain available for long periods of time.
platforms, but without being fully compensated for their working hours, which include the time they are logged in.
Different digital platforms can capture and process workers' data, automatically creating profiles about them and recording their availability and service acceptance rates, as well as measuring their "reliability" and "participation" based on criteria defined by the platforms themselves.
This can create hierarchies among workers that will define their future job opportunities, favoring those who accept more tasks or who remain logged into the platforms for longer periods of time. This has generally pointed to a relationship between platformization and increased working hours, considering the creation of non-transparent criteria that will define what is a "good worker" from the platforms' point of view.
Furthermore, defining logged-in time as working time is important for holding employers accountable for problems that may occur during the working day. Accidents involving workers or theft of their vehicles, motorcycles, or bicycles, for example, while they are logged into the platforms but are not performing a ride, delivery, or other service specific to the platform's business, should also be the responsibility of employers because, in these cases, both workers and motorcycles, vehicles, and the possibility of providing a service are effectively at the disposal of digital platforms.