Algorithmic pay: what the EU Platform Work Directive says when an app sets or refuses your pay

On delivery, ride-hailing, cleaning and microtask apps, software often decides what a job pays, adjusts the rate by time or demand, applies bonuses and penalties, and can refuse payment for work it marks as incomplete or fraudulent. The people doing the work rarely see how. The EU Platform Work Directive (Directive (EU) 2024/2831) sets rules on transparency, human oversight and review for decisions taken or supported by these automated systems, including decisions to refuse payment. This page focuses on pay. It is for people who work through platforms and for the platforms themselves.

The short answer: platforms must tell people performing platform work which automated systems they use, the categories of decision those systems take, and the main parameters and their relative importance, including how a person's data or behaviour influences decisions (Art 9). Any decision to refuse payment for work performed must come with a written statement of reasons, and the person can ask for a review, with a written reply within two weeks (Art 11). Member States must apply the Directive by 2 December 2026 (Art 29).

Who is covered

The Directive applies to digital labour platforms, meaning services provided at least partly at a distance by electronic means, at the request of a recipient, that organise work performed by individuals in return for payment and use automated monitoring or decision-making systems (Art 2(1)(a)). The transparency, oversight and review rules in Articles 9 to 11 are framed for any person performing platform work, whatever their contract is called, not only for those who are employees (Art 2(1)(c)). For the full Directive, including the presumption of employment, see the EU Platform Work Directive.

What platforms must explain about pay decisions

A platform must inform people performing platform work, their representatives and, on request, the authorities, of its use of automated decision-making systems. For those systems the information must cover (Art 9(1)(b)):

• the fact that such systems are in use or being introduced;
• the categories of decision taken or supported by them;
• the categories of data and the main parameters the systems take into account and their relative importance, including how the person's personal data or behaviour influences the decisions; and
• the grounds for decisions to restrict, suspend or terminate the account, to refuse payment for work performed, on contractual status, or of equivalent or detrimental effect.

The information must also cover all categories of decision taken or supported by automated systems that affect people performing platform work in any manner (Art 9(1)(c)). It must be given as a written document, in clear and plain language (Art 9(2)). Each person must receive a concise version about the systems that directly affect them at the latest on the first working day, before changes affecting working conditions, the organisation of work or monitoring of performance, and at any time on request, and a comprehensive version on request (Art 9(3)). For pay, that means the factors an app uses to price jobs, set bonuses or apply deductions should be described in a way the person can understand.

Refused payment: reasons, explanation and review

A person performing platform work has the right to an oral or written explanation, without undue delay, of any decision taken or supported by an automated decision-making system, and access to a contact person with the competence, training and authority to discuss the facts and reasons (Art 11(1)). For a decision to refuse payment for work performed, the platform must give a written statement of reasons without undue delay and at the latest on the date it takes effect. The same applies to decisions to restrict, suspend or terminate the account, decisions on contractual status and other decisions affecting the essential aspects of the relationship.

The person, and in line with national law or practice their representatives, can ask the platform to review the decision. The platform must reply with a sufficiently precise and adequately substantiated written answer without undue delay and in any event within two weeks of the request (Art 11(2)). If the decision infringed the person's rights, the platform must rectify it without delay and in any case within two weeks of adopting the decision, or offer adequate compensation if that is not possible, and take steps, including changing or stopping the system if appropriate, to avoid such decisions in future (Art 11(3)). These review rights do not apply to people who are also business users under the platform-to-business Regulation (Art 11(5)).

Oversight and data limits

Platforms must regularly, and at least every two years, evaluate with workers' representatives the impact of individual decisions taken or supported by their automated systems, with enough trained staff who have authority to override automated decisions (Art 10(1) and (2)). Where a decision has infringed a person's rights, the platform must take the steps needed to avoid such decisions in future (Art 10(3)). Platforms must not use these systems to process personal data on a person's emotional or psychological state, private conversations, data collected while the person is not offering or performing platform work, or data to infer characteristics such as health, trade union membership or ethnic origin (Art 7(1)). A pay model cannot lawfully draw on those inputs.

Practical steps

• People working through platforms: keep screenshots of job offers, prices, completed jobs and payouts. If a payment is refused or reduced, ask for the written reasons and request a review in writing, noting the date, since the two-week reply period runs from the request.
• Platforms: document the main parameters of pricing, bonus and deduction logic in plain language, issue a written statement of reasons with every refused payment, staff a contact point that can change the outcome, and track review replies against the two-week limit.

How each Member State applies these rules will depend on its national law, due by 2 December 2026 (Art 29(1)). In Great Britain, which is outside the Directive, people with worker status have rights on the minimum wage and unauthorised deductions; see also worker status. For pay ranges and pay gaps, see AI pay tools and pay transparency, and for targets set by software, warehouse quotas and algorithmic management. This page is general information, not legal advice.