New kid in town: platform workers of the EU and human oversight of automated systems in platform work

Abstract

The era of digitalization created new forms of employment along with complicated employment statuses, where existing labour laws lag in solving legal problems. The most recent development in the European Union is the proposed Platform Work Directive (PWD) against the raising concerns about the operation of digital labour platforms and people working through these platforms. By defining people as platform workers, the PWD offers significant changes. The PWD, with a broad presumption of employment, introduces new restrictions and obligations for digital labour platforms. Among those changes, introduced as a first at the EU level, is the human oversight of automated systems’ decisions. This paper analyses the term ‘platform worker’ in line with the PWD, mainly focusing on human oversight of automated systems in platform work.