Hong Kong to consider stronger laws to protect food delivery workers this year

City’s labour minister tells lawmakers authorities will improve rights and benefits of platform workers, following recent spate of protests

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Keeta and Foodpanda are the only two food delivery platforms operating in Hong Kong after London-based Deliveroo exited the market earlier this year. Photo: Jelly Tse

Published: 5:27pm, 28 May 2025Updated: 9:13pm, 28 May 2025

Hong Kong authorities will present a proposal to improve the rights of food delivery workers this year and consider legislative means to provide better protections after a number of recent labour disputes and protests involving riders.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han told lawmakers at a Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday that authorities would reinforce the protection of workers on food delivery apps and had set up a liaison group comprising representatives from the government, operators and labour organisations to explore suitable measures.

Some lawmakers also highlighted the need for greater scrutiny of such workers, saying that many of them operated illegally.

Sun said authorities had studied the regulatory regime in mainland China, where the Supreme People’s Court had determined and defined the relationship between platform operators and workers based on labour arrangements.

He added that workers were “most concerned about work injury compensation”, based on the findings of two surveys conducted by the Labour Department last year.

Lawmakers voiced concerns that the current protection of food delivery workers in the city lagged behind many jurisdictions, including the mainland and some Western countries.

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