Transportation companies using gig workers to perform delivery and courier work are now subject to new regulations.

Ontario’s Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022 (DPWRA) came into effect July 1.

While most traditional trucking operations are unaffected by the legislation, some companies using online platforms to distribute delivery work to independent couriers face new minimum wage obligations, detailed record-keeping requirements, and more.

The DPWRA applies to operators of digital platforms through which workers receive assignments, if those workers retain the discretion to accept or decline assignments. According to the act, an operator includes any person or company facilitating work performance through a digital platform.

Notably, the legislation applies regardless of whether these workers are being treated as employees or independent contractors.

Digital platform work

While the DPWRA applies to digital platform work performed inside Ontario, and to work performed outside Ontario — which is a continuation of work performed within the province — it does not apply to federally regulated transportation companies. This means that most interprovincial carriers will not be subject to the DPWRA.

However, if a federally regulated carrier operates a separate local delivery operation, that operation may be covered. The DPWRA also does not apply to temporary help agencies.

For covered operators, the DPWRA establishes several key obligations.

• Minimum wage: Operators must pay workers at least the provincial minimum wage (currently $17.20 per hour, increasing to $17.60 on Oct. 1) for each work assignment, calculated from acceptance to completion. Tips cannot be counted toward this minimum wage and must be passed on in full.
• Pay days: Operators must establish recurring pay periods and pay days, provide comprehensive written disclosures about pay calculations and work distribution factors, and give two weeks’ notice before removing platform access for more than 24 hours (except in certain situations, such as where the worker has engaged in willful misconduct).
• Pay calculations: Operators must provide workers with written details about pay calculations, performance rating systems, and factors affecting work assignments within 24 hours of granting platform access. Within 24 hours of an assignment being completed, operators must provide additional information including actual pay amounts and tip distributions.
• Detailed records: Operators must also maintain detailed records for each platform worker — including dates of platform access, work assignments performed, and amounts paid — for three years after their access to the platform is terminated.

Non-compliance with the DWPRA can be costly, resulting in orders to pay amounts owing plus administrative costs, monetary penalties, and prosecution. For repeat corporate offenders, fines can reach $500,000. Directors may face personal liability for unpaid amounts, limited to six months’ earnings per worker.

Transportation companies with platform-based delivery services should consider whether their operations are of a nature that may subject them to the DPWRA.

Companies will need to take steps to comply with the legislation, including implementing compliant pay calculation and record-keeping systems.

While most traditional trucking operations will be unaffected, companies venturing into the gig economy to provide delivery services must carefully navigate this new regulatory landscape.

— Sophia Cornacchia, summer student at Miller Thomson LLP, assisted in preparing this article.