Xiaojun Chen, 43, died in September 2020 after his bike collided with a bus. He took the job with delivery company Hungry Panda to support a wife and two children in China, and along left behind a dependent 75-year old father.
Law firm Slater and Gordon took up the
case with support from the The Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), which has been campaigning for food delivery riders to have rights such as trinidad and tobago telemarketing database minimum wages and workers’ compensation benefits.
iCare workers’ compensation scheme insurance agent Employers Mutual Limited (EML) agreed that Chen was employed by HungryPanda when he died, meaning his family is now entitled to benefits.
Slater and Gordon Practice Group Leader
Jasmina Mackovic said the outcome as ground breaking.
“To our knowledge, this is the first case where there has been an admission that a gig economy driver has been considered a worker,” she said.
“Gig economy workers and their families are usually denied any entitlements because they are considered independent contractors rather than employees, meaning they are unable to access workers’ compensation and other benefits such as annul leave and sick leave.
“This also means that workers or their
families are not guaranteed loss of wages payments, medical payments or a lump sum for any impairment suffered if they are injured or ill, or even in the case of death as has happened here.”
Chen’s death was part of a spate of deaths by gig economy riders that led to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into the sector, which led to the state ramping up education and training to improve safety.
During the inquiry Hungry Panda’s HR manager gave evidence that she didn’t know there was a legal obligation for companies to immediately report deaths to SafeWork NSW.
The company is now collaborating with the TWU to improve its conditions and operating standards.