Applying the Temporary Agency Work Directive to Platform Workers: Mission Impossible?

Abstract

In recent years most of the discussion among labour law scholars about platform workers has concentrated on their employment status. However, it is unclear which norms regulate platform work in cases in which the worker is classified as an ‘employee’. Platform work resembles temporary agency work (TAW) due to its fixed-term and triangular nature, giving rise to the question of whether provisions regulating TAW should be applied to platform work. The aim of this article is to analyse whether it is possible to apply the Temporary Agency Work Directive (TAWD) to platform workers and whether it would improve their employment conditions. It is argued that the automatic application of the TAWD to platform workers would be complicated and would not improve their employment rights. The main obstacles include the problems arising from the assignment of supervision and direction to the user; issues relating to the determination of working time; the identification of a comparator for the purposes of equal treatment, and the derogation from the principle of equal treatment based on qualifying periods. Other possibilities for the regulation of platform work need to be identified. Platform Work, Temporary Agency Work, Temporary Agency Work Directive, Atypical Employment