The link with digital platforms takes place contractually

The relationships between the digital platforms and their distributors will change radically if what is proposed by the labor reform is adopted.

The project establishes that those who work in companies with digital delivery or delivery technology platforms will be bound by an employment contract and will enjoy all rights and warranties contained in this contract and other employment arrangements applicable to dependent employees.

They will not demand exclusivity from their employees and must join them as dependents of social security, not even in the part-time modality.

These companies must generate reports for the contribution collection entities and inform the employees at the end of each month of the number of hours worked, including the time they were connected to the platform, so that they can be calculated based on days worked and weeks of contributions. .

On this subject, Maria Fernanda Quiñones, executive president of the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (CCCE), said that the regulation should be approached from a more technical angle and that it begins with an undeniable question mark on the status quo.

“We understand that this is a challenge for the legislation, but we see that framing the relationship through an employment contract emphasizes the traditional bilateral structure, apart from an understanding of the working of the model, the benefits and the impact that this could bring in economic terms,” ​​he said.

He added that sharing economy platforms are characterized by their effect on the absorption of unemployment, by the ease with which jobs can be created and maintained more quickly than in other sectors, and that one should not only look at the value they produce for those that generate income. and for the economy in general, but for the new digital services that enable consumers to meet their needs and people to access the productive market.

He believes that the legislative initiative should take into account the modalities of services and the dynamics of the sector, by defining a regulatory structure that, on the one hand, allows the platforms to continue to generate economic efficiency by offering services that users want with each other and, on the other hand, that it takes place within a framework of essential guarantees of safety, health and stability for service providers.

“The experience of other countries, in which it has been decided to follow an approach similar to that proposed in the labor reform, is clear that the impact is not only given to the business model and its economic effects on the generation of sources of income based on more flexible models, but also for the consumer who has benefited from the new digital services,” emphasized Quiñones.

For the CCCE, new working modalities should be considered that adapt to the new realities, recognize the rights of service providers and guarantee more innovation. economic.