EMPLOYEE-EMPLOYER RELATIONSHIPS IN THE GIG ECONOMY: HARMONIZING AND CONSOLIDATING LABOR REGULATIONS AND SAFETY NETS.

• Author: Ljungholm, Doina Popescu
• Position: Report

1. Introduction

   Firms in the gig-economy employ independent contractors aiming to decrease expenses and diminish employment-related liability. Without adjusted criteria to establish employment status, firms may be driven to get involved in a race to the bottom on wages and work expenditures without the traditional safety measures in use to protect employees. (Steinberger, 2018) The online platform economy has uncovered grave shortcomings in worker classification legal regulations that are addressed in contexts distinct from those for which they were formulated, and that are too unclear and imprecise to generate the unsurprising and coherent outcomes that are intrinsic to any legal treatment. (Harris, 2018)

2. Literature Review

   The digital epoch has altered employment relationships substantially, leading to a large-scale level of legal uncertainty (Ahmed et al., 2016; Ionescu, 2017a,b,c; Moghtader, 2017; Zogning, 2017) as to which regulations address in cyberspace. An individual who performs offline for an online platform may undergo risks distinct to liabilities of a traditional employee and thus necessitates a tailor-made adjustment. (Todoli-Signes, 2017) The advance of the gig economy creates serious challenges to established patterns for regulating labor and applying minimum criteria (Balica, 2017; Mengoli, Odorici, and Gudjonsson, 2017; Panova and Buber-Ennser, 2016) that are made intricate by the triangle of connections between personnel, digital go-betweens, and final end-users. Regulatory improvements should arrange that the blurring of the link between go-betweens and personnel (Agostinone-Wilson, 2016; Giroux, 2017; Machan, 2017), an essential characteristic of nearly all platform-based business patterns, does not turn down their workers of the kinds of protections that constitute fundamental rights. (Stewart and Stanford, 2017) Laws and regulations destined to assist workers are prejudicing them by hampering firms from allocating benefits to autonomous suppliers that both the contractor and firm would choose they be provided. Firms confront unpredictable expenses, whereas workers cannot presume what benefits they are eligible for and will eventually obtain. (Nadler, 2018)

3. Methodology

   Using data from Bloomberg BNA, CIPD, McKinsey Institute, ONS, U.S. Census Bureau etc., I performed analyses and made estimates regarding reasons for partnering with a peer-to-peer ridesharing, taxi cab, food delivery, and transportation network company, number of U.S. employer and nonemployer business establishments, including percentage distribution, share of U.S. adults earning income in a given month via online platforms, and cumulative growth in overall employment, number of employees, and number of self-employed (UK).

4. Results and Discussion

   The ascent of the platform is somewhat attributable to the decrease of permanent jobs and periods of significant unemployment rates, and constitutes a shift in choices (Bratu, 2016; Nica, Potcovaru, and Mirica (Dumitrescu), 2017a,b...