Towards a European Employment Status: The EU Proposal for a Directive on Improving Working Conditions in Platform Work

Introduction (extract):

On 9th December 2021, the European Commission proposed a Directive on improving working conditions in platform work. The purpose of the Directive is to improve the working conditions of persons performing platform work while supporting the sustainable growth of digital labour platforms in the EU. The Directive foresees three main packages of measures to attain this aim: (1) measures to ensure the determination of the correct employment status of persons performing platform work; (2) measures ensuring the fairness, transparency and accountability of algorithmic management in platform work; and (3) measures improving the transparency of platform work, including in cross-border situations.

Both the material and personal scope of the Directive are broad. The Directive aims to tackle a wide range of problems connected to platform work in practice and theoretically. Its personal scope covers not only employees, whose status is determined according to the laws of the Member States taking into account the practice of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), but some of the elements of the second package of measures (package 2 above) are broadened to cover all persons performing platform work. The Directive also applies to all digital platforms organising work that is performed in the EU and includes online platform work that can be performed exclusively online through electronic tools and on-location platform work that combines an online communication process with a subsequent activity in the physical world.