In last week’s issue we reported on the decision of the Dutch Supreme Court that all Deliveroo workers were employees and not self-employed contractors. Subsequently, we came across this interesting comment which argues that the Supreme Court followed government plans that are designed to drastically reduce the number of self-employed workers in the Netherlands. It says that the “Supreme Court ruling is likely to lead to a tsunami of reclassification rulings.”
The debate in the Netherlands obviously plays into the Brussels debate on the Directive on the employment status of platform workers. While the European Parliament leans heavily towards a presumption of an employment relationship, for governments, represented in the Council of Ministers, the decision is not so easy. On the one hand, they want the jobs that platforms bring. On the other hand, they want to avoid the drain on tax and social security revenues that result from bogus self-employment.
Expect tough negotiations between the European institutions on this in the months ahead.
- Meanwhile, here is a link to a series on UNI Europe papers on what it calls “quick commerce”.
- See also this recent decision from the Swiss courts in relation to Uber.
