Platform Workers Act 2024 to fully come into force on 1 January 2025
18 December 2024
The provisions of the Platform Workers Act 2024 (“Act”) come into force on various dates. By 1 January 2025, the Act will have fully come into force, as announced by the Ministry of Manpower on 17 December 2024.
Under the Act, platform workers will be better protected in three areas (i) housing and retirement adequacy through Central Provident Fund (“CPF”) contributions by both platform operators and workers, (ii) financial compensation if they get injured while working, and (iii) a legal framework for representation.
Mandatory notification for platform operators
Platform operators must notify the Ministry of Manpower (“MOM”) of their status as a platform operator through an online form on the MOM website. A self-assessment checklist is available on the MOM website for companies to assess if they are platform operators before notifying MOM. Companies that notify MOM before 1 January 2025 will not need to notify MOM again. A list of platform operators will be made available on the MOM website.
CPF contributions
The increased CPF contributions will be mandatory for platform workers born on or after 1 January 1995. Since 1 November 2024, platform workers born before 1 January 1995 have been able to opt in to increased CPF contributions. There is no deadline to opt in, and the decision to opt in cannot be reversed.
MOM has been working closely with the National Trades Union Congress to encourage platform workers to opt in early for a longer runway to benefit from compounding interest and boost their CPF savings, which can be used for housing and retirement needs. Lower-income platform workers who opt in to increased CPF contributions can receive the enhanced Platform Workers CPF Transition Support, to offset 100% of their share of increase in CPF Ordinary and Special Account contributions in 2025.
Older platform workers who do not opt in will continue to be required to make CPF MediSave contributions and will not receive the platform operator’s share of CPF contributions. Platform operators will deduct the CPF contributions from platform workers’ earnings and transmit them to the CPF Board monthly for all platform workers, including the MediSave contributions for those who do not opt in.
Work injury compensation for injuries at work
Platform operators must provide their platform workers with work injury compensation (“WIC”) insurance at the same level of coverage as employees under the Work Injury Compensation Act 2019. Platform workers who are injured while performing pick up or delivery tasks can inform their platform operators of the incident to make a WIC claim.
The Approved Code of Practice (“ACOP”) for platform services that MOM and the Workplace Safety and Health Council are working on with the industry, will provide platform operators and platform workers with practical guidance to fulfil their duties under the Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006. The ACOP will account for the unique features of platform work to address risks faced by delivery and ride-hail platform workers, such as in areas including fatigue management and management of excessive loads.
Background
The Platform Workers Bill was introduced in Parliament on 6 August 2024 and was passed on 10 September 2024. Our articles “New Platform Workers Bill introduced in Parliament” and “Platform Workers Bill passed in Parliament to strengthen protections for platform workers” set out more details.
On 22 October 2024, MOM announced that it would commence certain processes for platform workers ahead of the protections under the Act being implemented on 1 January 2025. More information is set out in our article “MOM commences certain process following partial commencement of Platform Workers Act 2024”.
Reference materials
The following materials are available on the Singapore Statutes Online website sso.agc.gov.sg and MOM website www.mom.gov.sg: