The reform of the Federal Labor Law that regulates the employment on digital platforms In Mexico, it obliges companies that operate this type of applications to inform delivery workers and drivers in Mexico about the operating rules of the algorithms with which they work.
One of the central proposals of the reform, approved by the Legislative Branch and awaiting promulgation by the Executiveis the demand for clarity on “algorithmic management”, that is, on the use of algorithms and automated systems to make decisions that affect the employment relationship of digital platform workers.
According to the proposed reform, this includes aspects such as the assignment of tasks, the evaluation of performance, and the calculation of incentives or penalties. These decisions, managed by technology, directly impact working conditions, access to new opportunities within the platform and workers’ income.
Algorithmic management policy
The platforms must prepare a document called Algorithmic management policywhich will be part of the employment contract. This document must detail:
1. Algorithm criteria: Platforms will have to explain in a simple way the elements that their algorithms used to make decisions that may affect the employment relationship. This includes task assignment rules, criteria for evaluating performance, and the consequences of customer ratings.
2. Impact on employment: They must report how the algorithmic decisions They can influence the assignment of future jobs, the possibility of receiving incentives or the application of penalties.
3. Incentives and penalties: Companies will be obliged to detail how the security systems work. rewards and sanctionsand its impact on the intensity, quality, frequency and pace of work.
According to the reform, with this information, workers will be able to make better-informed decisions and have more tools to defend their rights in the event that an algorithmic decision negatively affects their performance or income.
Inspired by the European Union
During a forum organized by the Law and Artificial Intelligence Research Line (LIDIA) of the UNAM, in collaboration with the Latin American Internet Association (Alai), which took place in November, Omar Nacib Esteban Fuentes, general director of Social Welfare of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS)stressed that the Mexican government was inspired by initiatives such as the European Union directive for work on digital platforms, which promotes “algorithmic management” with the intention of offering workers a basic understanding of how algorithms operate.
Digital platforms must provide drivers and delivery people with a document that explains in simple terms the rules under which tasks are assigned, hours are counted, and evaluations are distributed.
This document would not imply, Fuentes said then, the delivery of the source code or the complete algorithm of the application, but rather the exposition of some of the general criteria used by the system to make decisions that affect the worker.
The objective, according to the director of Social Security, is not for the algorithm to be revealed or analyzed by the government, but rather for workers to be able to understand the working conditions to which they are exposed.
