The Gig Economy- Worker or Self Employed LATEST EDITION 2024/25 GUARANTEED GRADE A+
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The Gig Economy- Worker or Self Employed
Institution
The Gig Economy- Worker Or Self Employed
The Gig Economy- Worker or Self Employed LATEST EDITION 2024/25 GUARANTEED GRADE A+
Preliminary Matters
- The disputed cases of employment status often reflect a distinction between the written documentation (which uses the language of entrepreneurial freedom for those who provide work) and the r...
The Gig Economy- Worker or Self
Employed LATEST EDITION 2024/25
GUARANTEED GRADE A+
Preliminary Matters
- The disputed cases of employment status often reflect a distinction
between the written documentation (which uses the language of
entrepreneurial freedom for those who provide work) and the reality
of those working arrangements. This reality often reveals a high
degree of control over the conduct of work through algorithms. These
algorithms deploy ratings systems (such as used by Uber) for workers
which then determine the quality and quantity of work offered.
Jeremias Prassl On Gig Economy
They represent a sophisticated system of impersonal disciplinary
control. Jeremias Prassl has drawn attention to the 'double speak' of
the Gig Economy. Gig employers deploy the language of self-
determination, flexibility, and entrepreneurialism. At the same time,
many Gig workers are working in low paid and insecure employment and
subjected to a high degree of control and subordination.
- Prassl also uses the term 'regulatory arbitrage' to describe the
business models of some Gig employers. This is a forbidding and scary
term! He simply means that the business model involves employers
manipulating their organisational structures in order to avoid the
costs associated with employment rights, as a way of getting
competitive advantage over competitors who directly employ their
workforces.
Perspective on Gig Economy
- While Gig work has captured the public imagination and media
attention - there is a Gig work article in the newspaper most days it
seems! - it is important to keep a sense of perspective. The numbers
engaged in Gig work are still relatively modest. The Royal Society of
Arts estimated that 3% of adults had tried gig work, and that there
are currently 1.1 million workers in the gig economy in the UK. There
are many other forms of work where the regulatory challenges are very
acute, such as social care work.
Four Main Legal Points on Gig Economy
General interpretive approach
In legal terms, there are four main points to keep in mind:
, (a) General interpretive approach: We have already encountered the
important decision in Autoclenz on the 'purposive' approach to
employment contracts where there is an inequality of bargaining power
between the parties. It is no surprise, given Prassl's discussion of
'doublespeak' in gig work, that the distinction between the written
documentation and the 'true' or 'real' agreement has been very
important in the Gig cases.
Four Main Legal Points on Gig Economy
Focus on Worker Status
The gig work cases have been focused on whether the individual is
working as a worker. This might reflect strategic choices to focus on
basic statutory rights, such as minimum wage and working time, where
there is no requirement of continuity of employment. Also, the 'pass
mark' to be a worker is viewed as a lower threshold, However, we
should not rule out the possibility that in legal terms those working
in the Gig economy might also be employees too. It is just that the
litigation hasn't focused on this question to date.
Four Main Legal Points on Gig Economy
Personal Service
(c) There is a requirement of personal service for workers. In some
gig cases, the question of 'substitution clauses' has been central to
the dispute. The most important recent case is the Deliveroo case,
where the existence of a valid substitution clause was treated as
fatal to their designation as workers. This meant that they were
blocked from relying on the statutory recognition procedure under
Schedule A1 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation)
Act 1992 to seek collective bargaining rights.
However, substitution clauses are not a universal feature of gig work
contracts. For example, they were not at issue in Uber. This is
because the algorithms often depend upon personal rating systems,
which would be undermined by frequent substitution. Hence, sometimes
the business model of gig employment will be incompatible with the
use of substitutes (though this might not prevent lawyers from
sticking them into the contracts to block a finding of employment
status! We would then be back in the realm of Autoclenz).
Four Main Legal Points on Gig Economy
Mutuality of Obligation
Finally, 'mutuality of obligation' has also been a feature in many of
the gig cases.
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