(Yicai) Oct. 9 -- The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has proposed China’s first set of regulations intended to protect workers in new forms of employment, including delivery couriers, ride-hailing car drivers, and livestreamers.

The 54-article draft document, released yesterday, seeks to regulate the use of algorithms by platform companies, strengthen basic labor protections, clarify employment arrangements, and improve mechanisms for resolving disputes.

While new forms of employment and emerging occupations associated with the digital economy have helped create job opportunities and make the labor market more flexible, they have also given rise to problems such as withheld pay, excessive working hours, opaque algorithms, and inadequate protection against occupational injuries.

The regulations address gaps and shortcomings in the existing labor law framework arising from changes in employment practices, Wang Tianyu, a researcher in the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Yicai. They are important both for effectively safeguarding the basic rights of workers in new forms of employment and for promoting the orderly development of these employment models, he said.

The rules would introduce specific provisions governing algorithms as a new form of workplace management and would establish the principle of algorithmic fairness, Wang pointed out. Algorithms determine task allocation, performance evaluations, remuneration, and even account suspensions, so their opacity and the unilateral nature of the rules have long been among the top concerns raised by workers in new forms of employment.

Under the regulations, platform companies would be required to explain the basic principles and operating mechanisms of their algorithms to workers, while algorithmic discrimination would be prohibited. Decisions with major implications for workers, including suspending the allocation of tasks or banning accounts, would have to undergo human review and could not be made solely through automated algorithms.

The draft document also sets out protections for a broad range of basic labor rights, including equal employment opportunities and freedom to choose an occupation; fair remuneration; working hours and work intensity; rest periods; occupational safety and health; protection when working in adverse weather conditions; vocational training; social insurance; and workers’ rights to information and participation.

The draft recognizes the diversity of employment arrangements in the platform economy and their differences from traditional employment relationships based on labor contracts, Huang Kun of the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security Sciences told Yicai.

While preserving flexibility in platform-based employment, the proposal also seeks to establish clearer rules governing employment and define the responsibilities and obligations of the parties involved, Huang said.

Editor: Tom Litting