Platform Work in the European Union: Lessons Learned, Legal Developments and Challenges Ahead

Forthcoming, European Labour Law Journal

29 Pages Posted: 5 May 2020 Last revised: 30 Apr 2022

Date Written: 2021

Abstract

Several years since first emerging in Europe, platform work continues to represent a ‘social dilemma’ for workers, businesses, social partners, policymakers and society as a whole. As a result of intense litigation, analysis and reporting, much is known about the contractual and working conditions in this growing labour market segment. While the European Union (EU) institutions are considering adopting a legislative proposal based on Art. 153 TFEU, there are a number of significant top-down and bottom-up national cases worth discussing. Workers across Europe have been reclassified by many courts; some governments have taken regulatory initiatives to address the risk of precariousness and have implemented new comprehensive legal instruments to safeguard a level playing field for both workers and platforms. This article discusses how existing and new domestic and EU labour law provisions can improve the labour conditions of platform workers. Its overarching goal is to address possible policy gaps and the implications for EU social law by exploring the lessons that can be drawn from recent policies and legal developments.

Section 2 briefly touches upon the policymaking initiatives in France, Spain and Italy. Moreover, it presents and reviews the main outcomes of litigation at the domestic level, focussing on the pervasive role played by algorithmic management. After introducing the Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), Section 3 critically analyses two key achievements at the EU level: the Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions and the Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. Section 4 explores the elasticity of the triad of Directives that regulate atypical forms of employment (part-time, fixed-term and temporary agency work). It is argued that the narrow construction of the Directives’ scope of application could represent an obstacle. However, an adaptive and purposive approach by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) could result in the classification of platform workers as falling within the scope of the social acquis in certain fields. Finally, Section 5 concludes by providing concrete policy proposals focussed on cross-border issues, algorithmic transparency, the introduction of a presumption of employment status and collective bargaining.

Keywords: platform work, European labour law, part-time, fixed term, temporary agency work, gig-economy, European Pillar of Social Rights

JEL Classification: K31, J38, J53, J81, J83

Suggested Citation

Aloisi, Antonio, Platform Work in the European Union: Lessons Learned, Legal Developments and Challenges Ahead (2021). Forthcoming, European Labour Law Journal, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3556922 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3556922

Antonio Aloisi (Contact Author)

IE University - IE Law School ( email )

Madrid
Spain

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