The widow and children of a food delivery driver who was hit by a bus and killed in Sydney will receive a $ 830,000 payment after a landmark court ruling found him to be an employee.
Key points:
- Xiaojun Chen’s family will receive more than $ 800,000 after the food delivery driver was hit by a bus
- The Personal Injury Commission has found that Mr. Chen was an employee, not a contractor, of Hungry Panda
- Advocates say the ruling is innovative for workers in the gig economy
Xiaojun Chen, 43, died while riding his Hungry Panda motorcycle in the Zetland suburbs in September 2020, leaving behind his wife Lihong Wei, his two children and his 75-year-old father, who live all in China.
The Transportation Workers Union (TWU) said the Personal Injury Commission found that Mr. Chen was entitled to workers’ compensation after Hungry Panda claimed responsibility for his death.
Ms Wei, who had to fire her husband through a video call from rural China to a Sydney hospital, said her husband was working in Australia to send money home to her family.
“My kids miss their dad every day,” she said.
“My daughter has started struggling with school and my son has lost his father forever at just eight years old. Nothing can fix that.”
Xiaojun Chen’s wife and two children live in China. (Supplied)
TWU National Secretary Michael Kaine welcomed the decision and praised Ms Wei for seeking compensation.
“After two long years, justice has finally been done for Xiaojun’s family,” he said.
The TWU has campaigned for food distribution brokers to have rights such as minimum wage and workers’ compensation benefits, regardless of the “contractor” label imposed on their jobs.
Lihong Wei says his children “miss their father every day.” (ABC News: Jack Fisher)
Jasmina Mackovic, of the law firm Slater and Gordon, said the decision was “the first of its kind in terms of workers’ compensation.”
“Workers in the gig economy and their families often deny any rights because they are considered independent contractors instead of employees, which means they cannot access workers’ compensation and other benefits such as the cancellation of sick leave and sick leave, “he said.
“Hopefully this is just the beginning of some changes that will support those who normally have no voice because they have to take on any kind of job and just try to support their families.”
University of Sydney industrial relations expert Chris F Wright said it was an important decision.
“It is a decision that goes against the last decades of legal development in Australia in the field of employment, which has gone very against workers and in favor of employers,” he said.
“I think the decision could have implications for other workers in the gig economy who are injured while doing their job and their ability to be compensated for it, but it remains to be seen whether this decision will have implications for other jurisdictions or others. areas of labor law ”.
The Federal Court has previously ruled that a distributor of Foodora Australia was an employee when he was unfairly fired.
But in a similar UberEats-related case, the Federal Court found that drivers were contractors, because they could choose when and where they worked.
NSW Labor Relations Minister Damien Tudehope said the “old model” of excluding some workers’ rights by contracting them may no longer be appropriate.
“I think we need to develop a policy in relation to the gig economy,” he said.
“The successful outcome of this statement sends a signal that we need to work much harder on how we treat the workers involved in the concert economy.”
An investigation by the NSW upper house on technology on industry and workers is due to be published by the end of the year.
Posted 6 hours 6 hours agoTh 23 June 2022 at 00:16, updated 10 minutes ago 10 minutes ago Thursday, 23 June 2022 at 06:11