Platform work in the EU : lessons learned, legal developments and challenges ahead

Thematic Working Paper for Annual Conference of the European Centre of Expertise (ECE) in the field of labour law, employment and labour market policies 'Exploring ways to improve the working conditions of platform workers: The role of EU labour law'This paper is organised as follows. Aside from discussing the key lessons gleaned from previous studies on platform work, Section 2 briefly touches upon the trends and initiatives in policymaking in France and in Italy. Moreover, it presents and reviews the main outcomes of litigation at the domestic level, with a focus on the role played by algorithms. This section also assesses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. After introducing the Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), Section 3 critically analyses two key achievements at the EU level, namely the Directive on transparent and predictable working conditions and the Recommendation on access to social protection for workers and the self-employed. Section 4 assesses the elasticity of the triad of Directives regulating atypical employment. It is argued in this section that the narrow construction of the Directives’ personal scope of application represents an obstacle. An adaptive and purposive approach of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) could, however, result in the classification of platform workers as falling within the scope of the social acquis in some fields. Finally, Section 5 concludes by offering concrete proposals.This publication has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi