Publication: A Critical Examination of a Third Employment Category for On- Demand Work (In Comparative Perspective)
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2018-11-18
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Cambridge University Press
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During the past fi ve years there have been a number of lawsuits in the United States as well as in Europe challenging the employment classifi cation of workers in the gig economy. Classification of a worker as an employee is an important “gateway” to determine who receives the protections of the labor and employment laws, including the right to organize, minimum wage, and unemployment compensation, as well as other obligations such as tax treatment. In response to both litigation and widespread confusion about how gig workers should be classifi ed, some commentators have proposed a “third” or “hybrid” category, situated between the categories of “employee” and “independent contractor.” Proponents often note that creating a third category would be a novel innovation, appropriately crafted and tailored for an era of digital platform work. However, as we have noted in a previous article, such an intermediate category of worker is actually not new. In this chapter we will provide snapshot summaries of fi ve legal systems that have experimented with implementing a legal tool similar to a third category to cover non- standard workers: in Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany, and South Korea. These various legal systems have had diverse results. There has been success in some instances, and misadventure in others. We believe that examining these experiences closely will help to avoid potential problems that are beginning to surface in discussions about the third category and the gig economy. This chapter largely will forgo the background on how platforms operate or the description of the tasks workers do, instead focusing on the classification problem.
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IE Law School
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A. Cherry M, Aloisi A. A Critical Examination of a Third Employment Category for On-Demand Work: (In Comparative Perspective). In: Davidson NM, Finck M, Infranca JJ, eds. The Cambridge Handbook of the Law of the Sharing Economy. Cambridge Law Handbooks. Cambridge University Press; 2018:316-327. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108255882.024