Reports of Harassment of and Violence Towards Platform Workers

17 Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked the Minister for Manpower (a) whether there has been a rise in harassment cases and violence reported by platform workers to date, in light of the recent stabbing of a delivery rider while in the course of his duty; and (b) whether the Ministry will look into ensuring that delivery platforms better protect their driving and riding partners in addition to only banning these perpetrators from the platform.

The Senior Minister of State for Manpower (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Minister for Manpower): Sir, cases such as the stabbing incident that the Member referred to, are serious crimes and best dealt with by the Police.

The Police do not track the number of harassment or violence-related crimes against platform workers per se. To date, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has not received any complaints from platform workers about harassment or violence.

Mr Speaker: Ms Yeo.

Ms Yeo Wan Ling (Pasir Ris-Punggol): Thank you, Speaker. I would like to declare that I am the advisor to the National Delivery Champions Association. Mr Speaker, over the past few years, our association has received ground grievances on harassment, sometimes verbal, sometimes physical, but always hurtful and traumatic. While the association and the National Trades Union Congress have provided counselling and at times, financial support to help our riders through this, what are some other redress avenues available to our platform workers, should they be harmed when they are carrying out their work duties?

Given that we recognise platform riders and drivers as employee-like now, would these redress avenues also include claiming vehicle insurance or having their platform partners provide redress avenues for them, or perhaps even for the Ministry to mandate the creation of crisis support centres at the platform companies?

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, I thank the Member for her supplementary questions. I think we must first recognise that platform workers, as they move around and interact with a great number of members of the public, can be exposed to risk of harassment. Platform workers are already protected through the Protection from Harassment Act, or POHA, where individuals who harass or commit violence against platform workers may be liable for criminal offences. All individuals who commit violence are also liable for criminal offences under the Penal Code.

So, there are already existing laws that actually protect platform workers against any form of harassment when they are conducting their work. We note in this case, that the platform company has also banned the particular customer who has displayed violence against the platform worker from using their platform. So, these are measures that companies can also adopt to protect the workers from further harassment by a particular member of public.

Mr Speaker: Ms Hany Soh.

Ms Hany Soh (Marsiling-Yew Tee): The victim raised in this relevant Parliamentary Question is actually my resident in Woodgrove, whom Senior Minister of State Zaqy Mohamad and I had visited during Christmas Day to better understand the situation that has arisen and also the conditions of his recovery. I share the same sentiment as his parents, that his job as a delivery rider can be a dangerous one and often prone to unnecessary abuse.

So, given that this job is public-facing and contains a service element, in relations to our platform workers' duties, while I understand from the Senior Minister of State that there are other laws out there, for example, in terms of POHA, that can protect them, but can we also look into whether enhancing this protection for them, such as expanding the coverage of protections under the Protection from Harassment (Public Service Worker) Order 2014, to include them as well, or to expand in other ways. For example, even if they were to pursue this route through the POHA, they may not have the financial means and time to do so.

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, I thank the Member for her clarification. I am glad to see that she and her fellow Member of Parliament has visited this resident. I hope he has not sustained severe injuries and that he is recovering well. But this case is still before the Courts and still under investigation, so, I shall not comment further.

Suffice to say that under the existing law, POHA and the Penal Code, investigations will be carried out and if there is an establishment of an act of violence against another person, then the process of the law would take its course and the culprit will be taken to task.

Under the current law, POHA, there are already criminal sanctions against such offenders and there are quite stiff penalties as well, including, for example, if there are offenders who intentionally cause harassment, alarm or distress, they may be fined up to $5,000 or imprisonment, or up to six months or both. And if there are more serious cases, where the victim is led to believe that unlawful violence will be used, and in this case, violence has been used against him, then the offender could be liable for a fine of up to $5,000 or imprisonment, or up to 12 months or both. So, under our existing laws, there are punishments.

But the issue of a platform worker facing violence or harassment at work is not something that the law itself can 100% deter, because it deals with human-to-human interaction. This can happen to any person dealing with another person. It could happen to, say, nurses, it could happen to a bus driver, it could happen to just a sale staff, facing another person who decides to be violent against a person providing any form of service. Expanding the law itself may not prevent such things from happening, but what we can do is to make sure that if the person is working in a particular workplace where employers have control of the site, they can then deny or deter such people from entering the premises. The challenge, of course, with platform workers is that they move around. There is no fixed locality and they do encounter different people.

So, the law provides some of these protection. Perhaps, what the employers or the companies can do is to help educate or share some information with these workers to be able to spot trouble and develop some situational awareness so that they themselves are able to take appropriate measures to extricate themselves from a situation or an altercation, and prevent the situation from escalating and subjecting themselves to physical harm. I think these things can happen, which is why the law is there to protect them from some of these harassments.