Humans as a Service: The Promise and Perils of Work in the Gig Economy, by Jeremias Prassl

The gig economy is “the collection of markets that match providers to consumers on a gig basis in support of on-demand commerce.” Some of the most recognizable examples in Canada are Lyft and Uber. In a September 2017 report by the Bank of Montreal on the gig economy, it was estimated that 2.18 million Canadians were categorized as temporary workers, which include people who take on term, contract, or temporary employment, such as freelancers. This report defines a gig as “any job, especially one of short or uncertain duration.” A recent Ontario Court of Appeal Case, Heller v Uber Technologies Inc, identifies the important step needed to determine whether a worker is an employee or not. In the United States, there has been lawsuit after lawsuit which leads to settlement after settlement in the gig economy. Most of the conflicts centre around how workers are classified and benefit (or fail to benefit) as a result

Employees, workers and the ‘sharing economy’ Changing practices and changing concepts in The United Kingdom

Recent years have seen a radical shift in the practice and profile of the labour economy in the United Kingdom consisting in the considerable growth of the so-called ‘Sharing Economy’ or ‘Gig Economy’, better identified as the ‘On-demand Economy’. From that starting point, it is argued that a corresponding change seems to have occurred in the set of concepts which the labour/ employment law of the United Kingdom uses to analyse and to characterize the work relations and work contracts which are created, made, and operated within this rapidly growing sector of the labour market. Two recent high-profile Employment Tribunal decisions in the Uber and Citysprint cases, and a decision of the Court of Appeal in this same area in the Pimlico Plumbers case have served to confirm the legislative creation of a third intermediate category of ‘workers’ who benefit from a set of employment rights which is more limited than that enjoyed by employees but which is nevertheless very important. This crystallization of labour law’s newly tripartite taxonomy of work relations has occurred very largely in the context of the on-demand economy, and is beneficial to those located in that sector. This is, however, a rather fragile conceptual structure

From the virtual class to the click workers: the transformation of work into service in the era of digital platforms

Ao contrário da fantasia de uma classe virtual de trabalhadores livres do trabalho, a flexibilidade dos serviços de microtarefas, realizadas por todos os usuários de plataformas digitais, beneficia apenas as empresas do Vale do Silício.Contrary to the fantasy of a virtual class of workers free from work, the flexibility of micro-task services, performed by all users of digital platforms, only benefits companies in the Silicon Valley

El tiempo de trabajo en plataformas: ausencia de jornada mínima, gamificación e inseguridad algorítmica

The aim of this paper is to analyze the configuration and determination of the working time in platform work. Platforms work is clearly contributing to job insecurity beyond the classification of platform workers. The unique business model of digital platforms, based on on-demand hiring, has a clear impact on the determination of working time in the platform economy which, as analyzed in this article, translates into precarious employment given the absence of a guaranteed minimum working time and algorithmic insecurity in determining working time.La finalidad del presente artículo es analizar la configuración y determinación del tiempo de trabajo en el trabajo en plataformas. El trabajo en plataformas está generando una clara precariedad laboral que va más allá de la naturaleza jurídica de la relación de los trabajadores de plataformas. El singular modelo de negocio de las plataformas digitales, basado en la contratación a demanda tiene un claro impacto en la configuración del tiempo de trabajo en la economía de plataformas que, como se analiza en el presente artículo, se traduce en empleo precario dada la ausencia de un tiempo mínimo de trabajo garantizado y la inseguridad algorítmica en la determinación del tiempo de trabajo

Platform Workers and Collective Labour Action in the Modern Economy

This article surveys existing efforts by platform workers to collectively organize and advance their labour interests, with a view to improving their working rights and conditions. After reviewing the status of platform workers, the challenges and contours of their work, and the needs and interests that may be served through collective labour action in Section I, this article describes and comments on identified forms of collective labour action undertaken by platform workers across a number of jurisdictions in Section II. As this article discusses, collective labour action, in its many modalities, both formal and informal, creates a context in which the traditional legal debates regarding the status of the worker become less important, focusing instead on the actual needs, interests, rights and conditions of work at issue. Collective labour action, as a tool for improving workplace rights and conditions, as well as a political strategy, also creates greater space for the participation and voice of workers. The rich and diverse forms of collective labour action undertaken by platform workers provide both illustrations and lessons that can be drawn for workers in other precarious industries and jobs, and more broadly in considering the future of labour law in a modern economy increasingly characterized by work outside of traditional direct employment, a discussion taken up in Section III. This article thus sets a descriptive foundation for further dialogue on the future of labour law in the modern economy, both for platform workers and the many other, and growing, populations of workers falling outside of traditional labour and employment protections

Relational Dynamics: Organising Rights and Work Relationships

This thesis analyses the manner in which labour rights are assigned to work relationships. The first half of the thesis is a doctrinal analysis of the work relationship statuses used in English law. The first chapter assesses the criteria that these statuses use, and the impact of using those criteria when they are applied to non-paradigm work relationship models. Subsequent chapters consider how, when these criteria are applied to atypical work relationships, the law struggles to properly analyse these relationships by virtue of the way they are structured. This analysis is done with a particular focus on tripartite work relationships, zero-hours work relationships, and the synthesis of these structures found in the gig economy. The second half of the thesis shifts to a normative proposal for a new model of assigning labour rights to work relationships. This begins by setting out the theoretical foundations of the new proposed model, which is based upon a version of the capabilities theory. Once this has been done, the theory of Relational Dynamics is outlined, including how this model relies upon the purposive interpretation of regulations to operate effectively. Following this, the practical aspects of implementing the Relational Dynamics model (including the use of legal presumptions, and the need for a tripartite structure to engage in the purposive interpretation of regulations) is set out, to demonstrate how the model can be practically implemented

Organizzazioni complesse e rapporti di lavoro. Per un diritto del lavoro a geometria variabile

La dottrina giuslavoristica italiana è rimasta spiazzata dinanzi agli eterogenei fenomeni di disintegrazione verticale della grande impresa fordista, che si pongono in antitesi con il contratto di lavoro subordinato, inteso come un rapporto necessariamente bilaterale tra un lavoratore e un unico datore di lavoro, riconosciuto tradizionalmente come il concetto ordinatore della materia. Esso è infatti difficilmente armonizzabile con una organizzazione del lavoro caratterizzata dalla compresenza di più soggetti di diritto, anche diversi dall’unico datore di lavoro inteso come parte del contratto, che possono, a vario titolo e in forme diverse, interagire con l’esecuzione della prestazione di un lavoratore subordinato nell’ambito delle organizzazioni complesse tipiche del modello post-fordista di organizzazione dell’impresa. In risposta a tali problematiche, parte della dottrina italiana ha elaborato una serie di teorie pluridatoriali, che costituiscono, ad oggi, la principale risposta alle questioni giuslavoristiche connesse ai processi di frammentazione e ricomposizione dell’impresa. Queste tesi si pongono in contrasto con la tradizionale lettura unitaria della figura del datore di lavoro, poiché postulano che essa possa essere declinata al plurale in alcune ipotesi di integrazione societaria o contrattuale fra imprese. Tali tesi, in ogni caso, non sono andate esenti da critiche di altra parte della dottrina, che ha sottolineato come esse incorrerebbero in una serie di ostacoli che non ne giustificherebbero l’accoglimento sul piano de iure condito. Per queste ragioni, il dibattito dottrinale in materia, concentratosi quasi in toto sullo studio della figura del datore di lavoro, sembra essere oggi giunto ad una impasse. Questo studio ha dunque provato a vagliare una ipotesi di ricerca alternativa rispetto a quella relativa allo studio della figura datoriale, sull’assunto che la direttrice tradizionalmente seguita dalla dottrina potrebbe essere stata vissuta dalla stessa come un punto di partenza imprescindibile della ricerca quando, invece, si sarebbe ben potuto tentare di metterlo in discussione, allo scopo di porsi nuove domande per cercare nuove risposte, piuttosto che dare diverse risposte alla stessa domanda. Sulla base di questa intuizione e per mezzo dello strumento della comparazione con il sistema inglese, si è dunque cercato di comprendere se il diritto del lavoro abbia già predisposto dei modelli di legislazione più pragmatica e meno legati ai modelli tradizionali della materia, che fossero funzionali a risolvere in modo più efficace le problematiche del sistema nel fare i conti con la complessità organizzativa. Dopo aver razionalizzato questa ipotesi di ricerca alternativa, anche sulla base di spunti teorici emersi nella dottrina pregressa, sono state rintracciate nel macro-sistema giuslavoristico una serie di tecniche normative già predisposte dal legislatore, che costituiscono una risposta più efficace, rispetto a quanto proposto dai sostenitori delle tesi pluridatoriali, alla risoluzione delle problematiche poste dalla complessità organizzativa. Poiché tali tecniche sono state predisposte dal legislatore sulla base delle specificità proprie di alcuni contesti normativi, si è dunque proceduto, nel tentativo di offrire una organica razionalizzazione delle stesse, ad una analisi differenziata di questi specifici contesti normativi. In ragione di ciò, sembra che oggi la materia giuslavoristica sia razionalizzabile, a livello macro, alla stregua di un sistema a geometria variabile, composto da numerosi micro-sistemi normativi il cui ambito di applicazione è spesso costruito a criteri terzi rispetto a quelli propri di una analisi binaria lavoratore-datore di lavoro, intesi come parti di un contratto di lavoro subordinato. In sede conclusiva, si è poi proposto di abbandonare il contratto di lavoro come concetto ordinatore della materia giuslavoristica per sostituirlo con quello di rapporto di lavoro, che sembra oggi essere maggiormente funzionale a cogliere le caleidoscopiche sfaccettature di un macro-sistema giuslavoristico che si evolve sempre di più nel segno della differenziazione

Whose Autonomy is it Anyway? Freedom of Contract, the Right to Work and the General Principles of EU Law

Just how significant is the freedom of contract found in article 16 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights for the regulation of the employment relationship? For the first half of its existence, few could have foreseen that article 16 would soon be at the centre of debates surrounding the place of business freedoms within EU employment law. This has changed in the wake of a number of controversial decisions in which the Court of Justice of the EU relied on article 16 to undermine the effectiveness of employee-protective legislation. The article begins by setting out the nature of freedom of contract in EU law and its effects in the employment context. This is followed by a consideration of the relationship between the general principles and the Charter. Critical Legal Studies is relied on to show that existing arguments as to the use of article 16 as a radical tool in the employment context have been both exaggerated and underplayed. Finally, potential counterweights to freedom of contract are examined, notably the right to work as both a general principle and Charter right

Reformulasi Hubungan Kerja bagi Driver Online: Analisis Kekosongan Hukum untuk Mengkonstruksi Pekerjaan yang Layak

Nuansa eksploitatif dalam hubungan pekerjaan antara driver online dengan perusahaan penyedia layanan memunculkan diskursus penentuan klasifikasi hubungan hukum bagi para pihak. Penggunaan istilah “hubungan kemitraan” yang saat ini diterapkan tanpa dasar hukum yang jelas mengakibatkan perusahaan memiliki tendensi untuk memperoleh keuntungan yang tinggi tanpa memiliki kewajiban dalam pemenuhan terhadap hak-hak driver online sebagai pekerja. Situasi ini bertolak belakang dengan Sustainable Development Goals 2030 poin ke delapan yang menghendaki adanya perlindungan terhadap hak-hak pekerja sebagai salah satu indikator dalam menciptakan pekerjaan yang layak dan pertumbuhan ekonomi. Dalam menganalisa permasalahan hubungan pekerjaan antara driver online dengan penyedia layanan, penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian secara normatif dengan pendekatan perundang-undangan (statute approach), pendekatan konseptual (conceptual approach) dan pendekatan perbandingan (comparative approach). Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan kedudukan hubungan kerja antara pekerja driver online dengan penyedia layanan sejatinya merupakan bentuk penyelundupan hukum yang mengatasnamakan hubungan kemitraan yang pada prakteknya menunjukkan (i) tidak sejalan dengan filosofi dari asas kebebasan berkontrak dan (ii) ketidakseimbangan kedudukan para pihak dalam perjanjian kemitraan. Padahal, apabila bersandar pada pertimbangan konsep hubungan tidak standar oleh International Labour Organization, interpretasi unsur hubungan kerja dan perbandingan dengan negara lain menunjukkan bahwa hubungan para pihak seharusnya dikategorikan sebagai jenis hubungan baru dalam sistem ketenagakerjaan Indonesia. Untuk itu, penelitian ini menawarkan konstruksi berkaitan dengan relasi kerja para pihak dalam peraturan perundang-undangan yang berusaha memproteksi driver online dari tendensi eksploitasi penyedia layanan. Hal tersebut mencakup pengupahan, Keselamatan dan Kesehatan Kerja (K3), hak istirahat, maupun hak cuti.   Kata Kunci: Ketenagakerjaan, Hubungan Kemitraan, Driver Online, Sustainable Development Goal