IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v11y2021i3p86-d602691.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constitutional Values in the Gig-Economy? Why Labor Law Fails at Platform Work, and What Can We Do about It?

Author

Listed:
  • Zsolt Ződi

    (Institute of the Information Society, University of Public Service, 1083 Budapest, Hungary)

  • Bernát Török

    (Institute of the Information Society, University of Public Service, 1083 Budapest, Hungary)

Abstract

Gig-work, or platform work, has been in the crosshairs of regulators since roughly the mid-2010s. The employment of an increasing number of platform workers raises a number of problems, however, there is no longer a consensus as to whether these problems are only the emergence of certain well-established labor law issues in a new guise, or completely new ones. To date, only one possible solution seems to have emerged, that of bringing platform work under the umbrella of labor law. This study argues, on the one hand, that platform work has a characteristic that was previously unknown in the world of labor relations (algorithmic and data-based work organization) and, on the other hand, that it has two other characteristics (tripartite structure and network effect) that create an entirely new quality that requires innovative legal approaches. The study selects some of the recent European Union standards regulating various kinds of online platforms which may also provide useful solutions for the regulation of platform work.

Suggested Citation

  • Zsolt Ződi & Bernát Török, 2021. "Constitutional Values in the Gig-Economy? Why Labor Law Fails at Platform Work, and What Can We Do about It?," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:86-:d:602691
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/3/86/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/11/3/86/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jens-Uwe Franck & Martin Peitz, 2021. "Market Definition in the Platform Economy," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_259, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    2. Jens-Uwe Franck & Martin Peitz, 2021. "Market Definition in the Platform Economy," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2021_259v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Sundararajan, Arun, 2016. "The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262034573, April.
    4. Jens-Uwe Franck & Martin Peitz, 2021. "Market Definition in the Platform Economy," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2021_259, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kawaguchi, Kohei & Kuroda, Toshifumi & Sato, Susumu, 2023. "Relevant markets and market power of mobile apps," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    2. Belleflamme, Paul & Peitz, Martin & Toulemonde, Eric, 2022. "The tension between market shares and profit under platform competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Martin Peitz, 2023. "Governance and Regulation of Platforms," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2023_480, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    4. CARBALLA SMICHOWSKI Bruno & DUCH BROWN Nestor & GOMEZ LOSADA Alvaro & MARTENS Bertin, 2021. "When ‘the’ market loses its relevance: an empirical analysis of demand-side linkages in platform ecosystems," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2021-07, Joint Research Centre.
    5. Andrey SHEVCHUK & Denis STREBKOV, 2023. "Digital platforms and the changing freelance workforce in the Russian Federation: A ten‐year perspective," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 162(1), pages 1-22, March.
    6. Petra Ritzer-Angerer, 2021. "Sharing Economy trifft ÖPNV — das neue Personenbeförderungsgesetz [Sharing Economy Meets Public Transport — The New Passenger Transport Act]," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(10), pages 789-794, October.
    7. Pia Szichta & Ingela Tietze, 2020. "Sharing Economy in der Elektrizitätswirtschaft: Treiber und Hemmnisse [Title sharing economy in the electricity sector: drivers and barriers]," Sustainability Nexus Forum, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 109-125, December.
    8. Lutz, Christoph & Newlands, Gemma, 2018. "Consumer segmentation within the sharing economy: The case of Airbnb," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 187-196.
    9. Maik Hesse & Timm Teubner & Marc T. P. Adam, 2022. "In Stars We Trust – A Note on Reputation Portability Between Digital Platforms," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 64(3), pages 349-358, June.
    10. Agnieszka Izabela Baruk, 2021. "Relationships between Final Purchasers and Offerors in the Context of Their Perception by Final Purchasers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-15, June.
    11. Vincenzo Vignieri, 2021. "Crowdsourcing as a mode of open innovation: Exploring drivers of success of a multisided platform through system dynamics modelling," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 108-124, January.
    12. Rajeev Kumar, 2022. "A Gig Worker-Centric Approach for Efficient Picking and Delivery of Electric Scooters," International Journal of Business Analytics (IJBAN), IGI Global, vol. 9(1), pages 1-14, January.
    13. Saif Benjaafar & Daniel Jiang & Xiang Li & Xiaobo Li, 2022. "Dynamic Inventory Repositioning in On-Demand Rental Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 7861-7878, November.
    14. Agam Gupta & Biswatosh Saha & Parthasarathi Banerjee, 2018. "Pricing decisions of car aggregation platforms in sharing economy: a developing economy perspective," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(5), pages 341-355, October.
    15. Alessandro De Chiara & Juan José Ganuza & Fernando Gómez & Ester Manna & Adrián Segura, 2023. "Platform liability with reputational sanctions," Economics Working Papers 1868, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    16. Julienne Brabet & Corinne Vercher- Chaptal & Lucy Taska, 2020. "From oligopolistic digital platforms to Open/Cooperative Ones?," Post-Print hal-03201454, HAL.
    17. Geissinger, Andrea & Laurell, Christofer & Sandström, Christian, 2020. "Digital Disruption beyond Uber and Airbnb—Tracking the long tail of the sharing economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    18. Sonny Rosenthal & Jean Yi Colette Tan & Ting Fang Poh, 2020. "Reputation Cues as Signals in the Sharing Economy," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, April.
    19. G. Debucquet & P. Guillotreau & G. Lazuech & F. Salladarré & J. Troiville, 2020. "Sense of belonging and commitment to a community-supported fishery. The case of Yeu Island, France," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 101(4), pages 439-459, December.
    20. Bergh, Andreas & Funcke, Alexander & Wernberg, Joakim, 2021. "The Sharing Economy: Definition, Measurement and its Relationship to Capitalism," Working Paper Series 1380, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:86-:d:602691. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.