A More Comprehensive Approach to Platform-Work Litigation

Summary

The employment status of platform workers has been the subject of extensive litigation in the last couple of years. In many parts of the world, these workers have tried to obtain reclassification as employees in court.

In a previous blog, I have highlighted how far too often the workers’ claims have been rejected on the basis of a hastened understanding of the functioning of platforms. In particular, many national courts have given too much emphasis on the purported flexibility of working time and shifts in platform work. I argued that this flexibility is often overestimated, especially when we ignore the functioning of algorithms assigning future tasks and shifts – flexibility cannot be taken for granted until it is sure that these algorithms, and the platforms, do not penalise workers with unstable schedules.