The Platform Economy and Labour Law: The Concept of the Worker

This book focuses on the evolving definition of an employee, a concept fundamental to labour law protection.

As economic and social conditions in labour markets shift, traditional definitions have increasingly proven insufficient to encompass all individuals in need of protection. This has implications in multiple legal domains, including domestic laws, EU law, and international law. It also impacts various facets of labour law, such as social security and taxation. The book contributes to this ongoing debate by offering a novel perspective on the characteristics of integrated working activity, as derived from the European Commission's regulatory practice and the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) case law on competition law, specifically concerning integrated workers and agents. It critically examines the prevailing 'subordination' paradigm, which has been the traditional basis for classifying workers, but is increasingly inadequate in the modern labour context. Building upon this, the book presents a new theoretical framework for classifying workers within labour law frameworks.

This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of EU Law, Labour Law, Competition Law and Business Law.