Michael Rawling from the UTS Law School believes cases like Ryan's show the Federal Government needs to give the Fair Work Commission powers to adjudicate disputes between contractors and tech companies like Amazon. Call for action on 'capricious and arbitrary' terminations The company says drivers can apply to be reinstated after being terminated, with 24 drivers being reinstated through the process.īut Amazon declined to say the total number of terminations since Flex launched in Australia. 'They said they would get back to me in about six days, but I still haven't heard from them.'Īfter initially asking the ABC for details about Ryan's case, Amazon declined to comment on the reasons for his termination. He is now trying to dispute Amazon's decision though an internal appeals process. 'It was just a computer on the other end. 'Not once did I speak to a human,' he says. Ryan says the email from 'The Amazon Flex Team' made him feel like he was being fired by a robot. Ryan McBain says Amazon has not told him exactly why he was terminated. 'It makes me feel worthless … like I'm just a number,' he says. Ryan McBain still has no idea why he was terminated from Amazon Flex. The mystery for Alex and other drivers who spoke to the ABC is exactly how many warnings and violations lead to termination.Īlex has received warnings for returning undelivered packages, refusing shifts that he believed would take more than 4 hours, and in one case, after a warning from a customer that he was not wearing a face mask properly during a delivery - something he denies. 'Obviously, If drivers can't do those things, then perhaps Flex is not the program for them.' 'Where we run into problems is where drivers, for instance, will commit to doing blocks and repeatedly not turn up, or they'll repeatedly cancel a block within 45 minutes of that block commencing or they'll repeatedly fail to deliver parcels. 'We're asking for pretty simple things from our drivers,' Mr Cooley says. The consequences of breaking the rules are clear - Amazon will terminate your access to the Flex app. 'The vast majority of compensation adjustments are made proactively through our reconciliation process.' 'We undertake a proactive pay reconciliation process across Australia, on a regular basis, to ensure all delivery partners are paid for excess time spent on delivery work,' Michael Cooley says. Yet the company declined to say how many top-up applications have been lodged and how many have been successful.Īlex says he lodged one application for a top-up payment, but it was declined. ( Supplied: Amazon Australia)Īmazon says if drivers cannot deliver all the packages within their 4-hour block, they can apply for a top-up payment through the Flex app. Amazon Australia's director of public policy, Michael Cooley.

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