The Taipei City Government yesterday announced that it would hold Uber Eats and Foodpanda accountable if they fail to report injuries or accidents involving their contracted drivers within eight hours of an incident.
Delaying a report contravenes Article 37-1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (職業安全衛生法), and is punishable by a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 (US$976 to US$9,765), the Taipei Department of Labor said.
Labor Inspection Office head Chiang Ming-chih (江明志) said that Uber Eats and Foodpanda have delivered lists of their employees, records of previous deliveries and wages received to the division.
The department would go through the records and discuss whether the two companies’ operations abide by the law.
If they are found to have subjected their employees to illegal working conditions, the companies could each face a fine of up to NT$1.75 million, the department said.
The government is looking into the work environment in the food delivery sector after Foodpanda and Uber Eats couriers died in traffic accidents on Thursday last week and Sunday respectively.
Couriers are employees rather than contractors, which means that the two companies would have to provide their workers with labor insurance and issue compensation for any work-related accidents, the Ministry of Labor said on Monday.
However, on Tuesday both companies said that they have no intention of changing their business models.
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