Paralysed in a crash between orders, Keeta rider’s case exposes ‘major loophole’ in proposed gig work laws

Joe was at the So Kwun Po Road roundabout in Sheung Shui when an order notification popped up on his phone, accompanied by a shrill audio cue. Knowing all too well that he would be penalised by delivery platform Keeta for ignoring it, he took his eyes off the road and looked down.

Delivery worker Joe, paralysed from a road accident, and his wife Yee, on October 7, 2026. Photo: James Lee/HKFP.

It was in those two seconds that he lost his focus, slammed into a broken-down car in front of him, and fell to the ground. Moments later, he realised that he could not move.

Joe only sustained minor surface injuries and did not break any bones. But the crash compressed the intervertebral disc between the third and fourth segments of his spinal cord, causing near-complete paralysis.

Since the accident, the 54-year-old has regained the ability to twitch his middle and ring fingers and flex his left leg, but sometimes suffers from violent involuntary muscle spasms and gets pins and needles in seemingly random places.

His wife, Yee, does not dare give herself hope — doctors have said that the damage to his spine is largely permanent, meaning he will likely remain mostly paralysed for the rest of his life. Keeta, a food delivery platform backed by Chinese retail giant Meituan, is still processing his insurance claim five months after the accident.

To riders and labour activists, Joe’s case serves as a warning. Under a planned piece of legislation that the government says will “protect” platform workers, delivery workers involved in road accidents between orders — like Joe — would be left ineligible for statutory compensation.

A Keeta delivery box, on May 22, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Between an algorithm that workers say puts them in danger and legislation that they believe falls short, delivery workers see Joe’s case as a sign that the new law will not do enough to protect them and will only give a free rein to platforms.

Now, labour activists are calling for stronger protections to ensure safe conditions and full accountability from delivery platforms.

First-to-claim

Joe now lies bed-ridden in Tai Po Hospital as Yee grapples with the fallout, still waiting for Keeta’s insurance coverage to be processed months after the accident. “Don’t count on him being able to walk again, it’s impossible,” she said, paraphrasing what doctors told her after Joe’s emergency surgery.

Riders like Joe are under constant pressure to monitor the Keeta app, which they say operates on an algorithm that rewards workers who accept orders but punishes those that do not.

Part of that system is a first-to-claim mechanism that simultaneously pushes out a single order to several riders, who would then race to accept the delivery on their phones, even if they are on the road.

In mid-2025, hundreds of Keeta riders went on strike to demand fair wages and the scrapping of the dispatch mechanism over safety risks. About a year later, those fears have come to pass: The notification that came up on Joe’s phone this May was one of those orders.

Keeta riders striking in Central on May 22, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Before joining Keeta in 2023, Joe spent more than a decade as a motorcycle delivery worker, fully protected under Hong Kong labour law as a full-time employee. It was only when working for the Meituan subsidiary that he was under pressure to continuously monitor his phone while on the road – a habit that resulted in the debilitating accident.

See also: How Hongkongers fuel Chinese app Keeta’s dominance in city’s food delivery market

“It’s because of the ‘first-to-claim’ system,” Yee told reporters on a Wednesday evening earlier this month, after visiting Joe at the hospital.

The Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, a labour NGO focused on delivery workers’ rights, is advocating for the first come, first served-style dispatch system to be regulated by occupational safety laws and taken down.

The urgency that the dispatch system demands of workers is compounded by the fact that their wages have been dramatically slashed since Keeta’s entry into the Hong Kong market.

The company offered delivery workers significantly higher wages in its first quarter of operations when it launched in November 2023. Employing a growth-before-profit strategy by offering customers meal discounts and workers better pay, Keeta soon earned a sizeable portion of the market.

But since then, per-order payouts have decreased by at least a third. A delivery worker who gave his name as Chan can attest to those shifts.

Speaking to reporters in the parking lot of a Fanling public housing estate where riders usually set off for work, he said that workers must make even more deliveries and meet stringent service quality standards just to match what they made a little over two years ago, oftentimes risking their own safety on the road.

Chan, a delivery worker for Keeta, on October 7, 2026. Photo: James Lee/HKFP.

Where riders previously needed to complete around three deliveries per hour to meet their income target, current rates force riders to double their orders, stretching shifts to more than 12 hours just to reach the same earnings, he said.

‘Unthinkable’

Chan and Joe became friends over the past two years making deliveries, spending their off-hours at barbecues and playing sports. “I rushed over as soon as other riders told me that he had gotten into an accident,” he said, his voice breaking.

“It was unthinkable that I was eating with him in the daytime and by night, he was on a hospital bed.”

Though not a delivery worker herself, Yee knows of the pressures and, more importantly, the safety risks that the system imposes on delivery workers like her husband.

She visits Joe almost every evening after work and over the weekends, bringing dinner and snacks soft enough for him to chew and swallow, propping up his hospital bed and moving his immobile limbs and torso in hopes of warding off the atrophy and organ failure that could follow.

On top of the daily visits, what followed Joe’s accident was a bureaucratic nightmare for Yee.

Depending on the extent of damage, the delivery platform’s accident insurance plan says that Joe may be eligible to claim up to HK$1 million for his condition — permanent total incapacity. It also covers up to HK$120,000 for accidental medical expenses and HK$450 daily for hospital stays, up to a 30-day cap.

Still working a full-time job, the delivery worker’s wife filed a claim with Keeta’s insurer just before the one-month deadline, after weeks of trying to authenticate a police statement that Joe was physically incapable of signing.

More than four months have passed since then, and she is still waiting for provider China Ping An Insurance to process the application after the insurer acknowledged receipt.

She also said she was under pressure from medical social workers at the hospital to vacate Joe’s bed. But places in subsidised residential care homes are also operating at full capacity, while private ones would cost some HK$17,000 per month, swallowing up most of Yee’s salary.

Keeta’s office in Causeway Bay, on August 7, 2024. Photo: James Lee/HKFP.

The city’s tax authorities have also refused to grant lenience for HK$80,000 owed by the couple in taxes, to be paid in HK$6,000 monthly instalments.

In a reply to HKFP, Keeta expressed its sympathies and said that it “ultimately prioritises the safety of its delivery workers” and would review feedback on the dispatch mechanism.

“Keeta has strict safety guidelines requiring couriers to view or operate their mobile phones only when safely and appropriately parked. Regarding the feedback from couriers on the order dispatch mechanism, we will review and study the matter,” it said.

The firm said it has reached out to Joe’s family “to provide all necessary support to help them through this difficult time” and that it was processing Joe’s claim application according to standard procedures.

New legislation

Keeta’s insurance coverage for permanent disablement is a little over half of what he would be eligible to claim if he were considered an employee of the company instead of an independent contractor.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee delivers his annual Policy Address at the Legislative Council on September 17, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance (ECO), someone of Joe’s age earning a monthly salary of around HK$25,000 per month would be eligible for compensation worth 72 months of earnings, or some HK$1.8 million, according to calculations by the HKCIC.

That does not include hospital fee reimbursements or a HK$700,390 constant attendance allowance, also covered by the ordinance.

The NGO has called for delivery workers to be given employee status so that they can be fully protected under Hong Kong law. But the city’s labour authorities have proposed a piece of dedicated legislation meant to “protect platform workers” that the labour activists say is even narrower in scope than delivery firms’ existing insurance coverage.

Under the legislation floated by Chief Executive John Lee in his 2025 Policy Address, delivery workers will only be covered if they are injured — or killed — in accidents “arising out of and in the course of performing platform work.”

A document submitted to the Legislative Council’s (LegCo) manpower panel states that delivery workers are considered to be working and therefore covered by the legislation from when they “start to depart for the designated location to perform a pick-up task” to the point the order is delivered to the designated location.

Keeta posters in Central, on April 2, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

It would also cover the period when a worker is on their way back to their vehicle after the delivery, or the period leading up to the cancellation of an order. However, platform companies themselves would be free to decide whether the time spent simply being online for a shift or waiting for a new order would be covered by the law.

Keeta’s existing accident insurance covers the commutes one hour before and after delivery workers’ shifts.

This direction inevitably leaves riders asking: Why did the [government]… spend so much time deliberating, only to put forward an injury compensation scheme that falls short of both the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and existing platform insurance policies?

The Hong kong christian industrial committee

“The period [between orders] was exactly when his accident happened,” Yee told reporters. “It’s not like you’re delivering orders for eight, ten hours non-stop – you have to go somewhere to rest and wait. From logging on until clocking out, that entire period should be covered.”

Joe’s voice was weak and just barely audible when reporters visited him at the hospital for a few minutes at a time earlier this month. He said he hopes that others can be protected in the future, even if he is not.

Being eligible for Keeta’s compensation “would mean the protection of working people,” he said against the beeps of medical equipment and the groans of neighbouring patients. If his claim goes through, it would be proof that delivery workers, despite their hybrid labour status, should be protected by law.

The hospital where Joe is staying, on October 7, 2026. Photo: James Lee/HKFP.

The labour authorities’ July document suggests that the compensation mechanism for death or permanent total incapacity would align with the ECO, but does not spell out an exact formula and instead states that the minimum amount of compensation would be HK$514,510 and HK$584,220 respectively.

“This will ensure that platform workers who suffer from permanent total or partial incapacity or die as a result of a work accident are entitled to compensation comparable to those of employees,” the proposed framework says.

In a reply to HKFP, the Labour Department said that workers will be compensated by the platform operator if they are injured in an accident “arising out of and in the course of performing platform work.”

“The government is currently making every effort to press ahead with the relevant legislative drafting work, with a view to submitting the legislative proposals to the Legislative Council before the end of this year,” the Department said.

It added that it will also continue to discuss issues of concern with stakeholders through the Tripartite Committee for the Digital Platform Sector.

‘It shouldn’t be worse’

However, HKCIC says Joe’s case exposes a “major loophole” in the proposal.

“When managing you, they treat you like an employee – but then an accident happens and only then do they treat you as self-employed,” said Justine Lam, a programme officer at the HKCIC.

The NGO’s Riders’ Rights Concern Group shut down last July without explanation, but the committee continues to campaign for delivery workers’ rights and lobby for strengthened legal protections.

If the government is legislating, it shouldn’t be worse than this one. If it’s worse, then it’s better if they don’t touch it at all.

Chan, keeta delivery rider

They also note that the proposed legislation does not cover costs for assistive technology, while compensation for employees with full protections covers rehabilitative aids and equipment such as electric wheelchairs or eye-tracking interfaces.

Justine Lam of the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, on October 15, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

The pressure group continues in a statement: “This direction inevitably leaves riders asking: why did the government’s Tripartite Committee for the Digital Platform Industry spend so much time deliberating, only to put forward an injury compensation scheme that falls short of both the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance and existing platform insurance policies?”

Its calls come as Beijing drafted strengthened protections for platform workers last week, stipulating that platforms must implement “reasonable” task-allocation systems and performance metrics and avoid encouraging overwork through targets or incentives.

The HKCIC’s recommendations

1. Establish an employment relationship between platform companies and platform workers
2. Establish a minimum wage or per-order pay floor
3. Ensure platform workers enjoy protections for work injuries and occupational diseases no less favourable than those under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance, including:
   • Time spent online on standby and accepting orders must be included under “protected working hours.”
   • A minimum income floor must be established for calculating leave compensation
   • Calculations for compensation must take into account lost part-time earnings.
4. Regulate platform companies under the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance to safeguard the safety and health of platform workers.
5. Enact provisions to restrict and regulate platform companies’ powers to use data for automated management and evaluation, ensuring that their use of algorithms cannot jeopardise the safety and health of platform workers.

As Joe lies motionless in hospital, his injury has galvanised calls by the HKCIC for stronger protections, from granting platform workers employee status to making sure they are eligible for compensation from the moment they log in to the moment they log off.

The draft legislation is expected to be introduced in LegCo by the end of the year.

Chan, the delivery worker, said the law should at least have better protections than what the platforms are offering. “It’s the government doing the legislation, not Keeta,” he said.

“If the government is legislating, it shouldn’t be worse than this one,” he added, referring to Keeta’s policies. “If it’s worse, then it’s better if they don’t touch it at all.”

A rider calling for dangerous dispatch mechanisms to be abolished. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.