Is this the future for workers?

[megilleland]

Both articles in The Guardian this week:

 

UK Mail driver who was unable to work after car accident charged £800

Delivery company accused of ripping off workers over costs passed on for finding drivers to cover for sickness absences

Delivery company UK Mail has been accused of “ripping off†workers and using “inhuman†practices after it charged a courier nearly £800 when he was unable to work as a result of a car accident while on duty.

The £250m business, which delivers for retailers including Tesco, Homebase and O2, billed 47-year old Emil Ibrahimov £216 on the days he could not work after a car drove into him while he was carrying parcels from the rear of his van in east London.

 

and
 

Sick Parcelforce couriers can be charged up to £250 if they can't find cover

News of policy at Royal Mail-owned firm, which delivers for M&S, John Lewis and Hamleys, emerges after criticism of DPD

Parcelforce couriers who deliver packages for Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Hamleys can be charged up to £250 a day if they are off sick and cannot find someone to cover their shift.

Details of the policy applied by the Royal Mail-owned business emerged days after rival courier company DPD was criticised for charging some drivers who take time off for illness. And it will fuel concerns about precarious working conditions in the “gig economyâ€, amid a series of disputes about the employment status of people who work for firms such as Uber and Deliveroo.

About a quarter of Parcelforce’s 3,000 couriers are self-employed owner-drivers, meaning they are paid per delivery and must fund their own vehicle, fuel, insurance and uniform. It has emerged that some owner-drivers who take a day off due to illness, but cannot find cover, are being told they must pay Parcelforce £250 per day missed.

 

It won't be long before we all pay to go to work! This on top of the Conservative government trying to increase self employed taxes in the Budget.
 

[Cambo]

 

It won't be long before we all pay to go to work! This on top of the Conservative government trying to increase self employed taxes in the Budget.

 

We already do in paying tax to the government…this is more like a penalty tax given out by the companies for a no show because the person due to illness cannot turn in, you'd think it would be illegal for a employer to do but there must be a loophole in the employment law or its in there contracted?