Labour Rights in the Gig Economy

As I transition into my new role as a full-time executive coach and workplace trainer and consultant, it seems timely to share this article which contains snippets from one of the last interviews I gave in my role as Principal Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Hong Kong University on labor rights in the gig economy.

Farzana Aslam, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong, says that the “right to disconnect” should be regulated. She believes that reforming the law would help relieve work-life conflict. However, freelancers or contract workers do not satisfy the criteria to be considered employees under common law, so they cannot avail themselves of the protections afforded by the Employment Ordinance which gives the basic layer of minimum protections.

Aslam says the government is too cautious. “They are very concerned about the financial impact on employers. That’s a legitimate concern,” says Aslam. “But to my mind, it’s not really balanced enough in favour of employees and workers and what rights they should be seeking to protect.”

The ability of unions to take any kind of industrial action is severely limited in Hong Kong because of the lack of collective bargaining rights. However, Aslam thinks setting up new labour unions is “a brilliant idea”.

“If you get together collectively, you can start to create change. Obviously, ideally, you’d have a legal system that supported and gave greater recognition to that,” she says.