The Uberization of work case developments in the UK

Abstract

he emergence and rise of the «gig economy» 1 , and in particular the use of internet platforms to «hire» workers to provide services, presents a number of challenges to the allocation of employment rights in the UK as elsewhere.In the UK, the allocation of employment rights depends on a distinction between «employees», «workers» and the «self-employed», with employees having access to the greatest range of employment rights and the self-employed the least.Each categorisation is made according to a series of fact-dependent tests, albeit that the tests to determine status overlap to a certain extent.In any event, the complex factual matrix at work in the organisation of work in the gig-economy makes it very difficult to «match» gig-economy workers to the «correct» status.The reality of this kind of employment is that it embodies characteristics which span the status divisions.For example, on the one hand, gig-economy workers may have a considerable degree of autonomy in certain aspects of their work, a feature which suggests a finding of self-employment status.On the other hand, there may be a high degree of control in other areas of work which suggests a relationship of employee and employer between the platform company and the service provider.This provides the first set of challenges presented by the gig economy.A second set of challenges arises as a result of the action of platform companies in attempting to disguise the «true» nature of the relationship between 1 The gig economy can span a range of business models.For a discussion of these models in the context of employment, see A. Todoli-Signes, «The End of the Subordinate Worker?The On-Demand Economy, the Gig Economy and the Need for Protection for Crowdworkers», International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, 2018, 33(2), p. 241.

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