ILO Adopts First Global Labor Standard for Platform Work: What U.S. Companies Need to Know

00:00

24:53

Quick Hits

• ILO Convention No. 193 is the first international labor standard specifically designed for platform and gig economy work.
• Under the Convention, core protections including minimum wage, social protection, and occupational safety and health (OSH) rights apply to all platform work, regardless of a platform worker’s formal employment classification (e.g., “independent contractor” or “employee”).
• Algorithmic management is addressed in a binding international instrument for the first time: platforms must disclose automated decision-making and provide human-review mechanisms.
• The Convention is not self-executing. Countries must now decide whether to ratify it and, if ratified, must implement it through their domestic law.
• The United States voted against adoption and is unlikely to ratify. However, U.S.-headquartered companies will still feel the Convention’s effect if they retain platform workers in countries where it has been ratified and implemented into domestic law.

What Happened

At its 114th session in Geneva, the International Labour Organization (ILO) formally adopted Convention No. 193, capping a multiyear standard-setting process that launched in 2024. The delegate vote was 406-to-8, with 36 abstentions. The United States and New Zealand government delegates voted against while the United Kingdom and India government delegates abstained, which serves as a reminder that ratification will be uneven. The new Convention is supplemented by a Recommendation that provides additional (nonbinding) guidance.

Convention No. 193 is the first instrument built specifically for the platform economy, with provisions tailored to algorithmic management, cross-border platform structures, and the classification problems unique to gig work.

The scope is broad. The Convention applies to all digital labor platforms. A “digital labor platform” is defined as a company or individual that “(i) organizes and/or facilitates work performed by persons for remuneration or payment, for the provision of service, upon request of the recipient or requestor; (ii) regardless of whether that work is performed online or in a specific geographic location.” In other words, it applies to much more than ride-hailing and food-delivery services.

In addition, the Convention applies regardless of a platform worker’s formal employment classification. The Convention does not require countries to classify gig workers as employees, but it requires that core protections apply regardless of classification.

The Key Provisions

Classification

The Convention does not mandate a single classification model, but it does require governments to ensure workers are correctly classified based on how work is actually performed, not merely on how the parties have labeled the relationship. This reaffirms the substance-over-form standard that exists in most countries. However, unless ratifying countries expressly provide that satisfying the Convention’s requirements will not, in itself, create an employment relationship, compliance (e.g., wage floors, expense reimbursement, structured oversight, and employment termination protections) may generate circumstances that trigger employee status under existing domestic law.

Minimum Wage, Timely Payment, and Expense Coverage

The Convention requires payment in full and on time, compliance with applicable minimum wage standards, and reimbursement of work-related expenses. The classification risk identified above applies with particular force here.

Algorithmic Management

For the first time in any ILO Convention, algorithmic management has been addressed directly. Under the Convention, platforms must inform workers and their representatives how automated systems are used for monitoring and decision-making, and must provide written explanations and human review for decisions affecting pay, suspension, deactivation, or terminations of employment. A human in the loop is required. Foundational principles of the EU AI Act and the EU Platform Work Directive will, through ratification, now begin reaching markets beyond Europe.

Social Protection, OSH, and Termination

Platform workers are typically excluded from statutory social insurance schemes, such as pension contributions, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation, because contractor classification puts them outside the employer-employee relationship that those schemes assume. The Convention requires ratifying countries to close that gap. The Convention also provides baseline protections for occupational injuries and protections against unjustified deactivation or employment termination.

Fundamental Rights

The Convention extends freedom of association, collective bargaining, and access to dispute resolution to platform workers regardless of classification.

Data Protection

The Convention includes safeguards on the collection and use of personal data in the platform context.

What It Does Not Do (Yet)

The Convention is not self-executing. Like all ILO conventions, it binds only those member states that ratify it, and even ratifying states must pass implementing legislation before the provisions have domestic legal force. Member states are constitutionally required to submit the Convention to their respective competent national authorities within twelve months for ratification consideration, but submission is not ratification. If the delegate votes are any indication of what is to come, ratification is likely to be uneven, which can create a complex compliance landscape for multinational employers.

Next Steps

Companies with platform-based or contractor-heavy workforce models in multiple jurisdictions should consider prioritizing the following action items:

• auditing current classification practices against the standards the Convention is expected to influence;
• assessing algorithmic management systems for disclosure and human-review readiness; and
• mapping which operating jurisdictions are likely to ratify quickly and what that means for existing contractor relationships.

Ogletree Deakins’ Cross-Border Practice Group will monitor ratification developments and the interaction between the Convention and domestic legislation across key markets., and will provide updates on the Cross-Border, Cybersecurity and Privacy, Employment Law, Technology, Wage and Hour, and Workforce Analytics and Compliance blogs as additional information becomes available.

Follow and Subscribe
LinkedIn | Instagram | Webinars | Podcasts