Status Issues of Platform Work

Abstract

The subject of the author’s analysis is the performance of work for digital platforms, which is currently developing very dynamically and is significantly ahead of legal regulation. The first legal regulation of work performed for digital platforms at the level of the European Union will be the upcoming directive on improving the working conditions of persons working through digital platforms. The author examines the draft of the aforementioned directive, especially its legal consequences for the legislation of the Slovak Republic. Since the work for digital platforms with algorithmic management often does not meet either the legal characteristics of “dependent work” or the legal characteristics of “independent work”, the author de lege ferenda proposes a legislative solution to the status issues of persons working for digital platforms also by means of a reassessment of the current normative definition of the term “dependent work” as well as the term “employee” which, according to the legal status de lege lata, is defined significantly narrower compared to the personal scope of the proposed directive. In this way, it would be realistically possible to ensure the social protection of natural persons working for digital platforms in the near future.

Keywords

• labour law
• digital labour platforms
• employee
• employer
• employment relationship
• employment status
• self-employed status
• subordination
• legal presumption of employment relationship
• control of work for platforms
• the slovak republic