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Arbetstagare eller egenföretagare? - En arbetsrättslig analys av plattformsarbetares rätt till anställning

Axelsson, Jenny LU (2020) HARN30 20201
Department of Business Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Delningsekonomins framväxt under de senaste decennierna är en effekt av digitaliseringen, vilket har fört med sig att arbete via digitala plattformar har tagit plats på arbetsmarknaden. Plattformsarbete kan se ut på många olika sätt beroende på plattformens affärsmodell och denna utveckling har lett till att plattformarnas arbetare har hamnat i en position där det är otydligt om de tillhör kategorin arbetstagare eller egenföretagare. Denna uppsats syftar med bakgrund i detta till att beskriva och analysera dagens plattformsarbete och hur arbetet förhåller sig till det civilrättsliga arbetstagarbegreppet. Den svenska arbetsrättens skydd ges främst till arbetstagare, och de plattformsarbetare som hamnar under kategorin egenföretagare står... (More)
Delningsekonomins framväxt under de senaste decennierna är en effekt av digitaliseringen, vilket har fört med sig att arbete via digitala plattformar har tagit plats på arbetsmarknaden. Plattformsarbete kan se ut på många olika sätt beroende på plattformens affärsmodell och denna utveckling har lett till att plattformarnas arbetare har hamnat i en position där det är otydligt om de tillhör kategorin arbetstagare eller egenföretagare. Denna uppsats syftar med bakgrund i detta till att beskriva och analysera dagens plattformsarbete och hur arbetet förhåller sig till det civilrättsliga arbetstagarbegreppet. Den svenska arbetsrättens skydd ges främst till arbetstagare, och de plattformsarbetare som hamnar under kategorin egenföretagare står som resultat utanför regleringen.

Arbetstagarbegreppet saknar legaldefinition och vägledning har utvecklats i förarbeten, doktrin och praxis, och det finns även ett separat arbetstagarbegrepp som utvecklats genom EU-domstolens praxis. För att avgöra om det rör sig om ett anställningsförhållande undersöks det enskilda fallet i relation till samtliga relevanta omständigheter i en helhetsbedömning. Begreppet ges en vid tolkning i svensk rätt och detta gör att gränsdragningen vid tvister är flexibel på så vis att den tar hänsyn till omständigheter kring arbetsförhållandet och inte enbart själva avtalet.

Slutsatsen dras att det i dagsläget inte går att göra något generellt uttalande om vilken kategori plattformsarbetare hamnar i, arbetstagare eller egenföretagare. Omständigheterna som tas i hänsyn vid bedömning tyder på att arbetare vid vissa plattformar omfattas av det traditionella arbetstagarbegreppet i svensk rätt. Andra plattformsföretag fungerar på ett sätt som pekar på att arbetaren bör ses som egenföretagare. Det hela beror på omständigheterna i det enskilda fallet och inte minst på den aktuella plattformens affärsmodell. Mot bakgrund av detta verkar de grundläggande rekvisiten som beaktas i gränsdragningen av arbetstagarbegreppet gå att applicera på plattformsarbete.

Det finns ännu inga AD-domar som berör plattformsarbetares anställningsstatus, men en EU-dom tas upp för att ge nyans åt diskussionen. Rättsdogmatisk metod används för att förklara arbetstagarbegreppet i både svensk rätt och EU-rätt för att i nästa skede tillämpa begreppet på plattformsarbetare. EU-domstolen har under de senaste åren utvidgat kraven för den nationella lagstiftningens implementering av EU:s minimistandarder inom arbetsrätten och EU-rätten verkar därför kunna få en betydande roll i framtidens tolkningsfrågor, även om EU:s arbetstagarbegrepp inte verkar vara heltäckande och fortfarande lämnar visst utrymme för den nationella lagstiftningen. (Less)
Abstract
The development of the sharing economy that has taken place in recent decades is an effect of digitalisation, which has led to work being supplied through digital platforms having taken place in the labour market. Platform work can look different in many ways depending on the platform's business model and this development has led the platform's workers to be in a position where it is unclear whether they belong to the category of employees or self-employed. With this background, this essay aims to describe and analyze today's platform work and how the work relates to the concept of employment in civil law. The protection of Swedish labor law is mainly given to workers, and the platform workers who fall under the category self-employed are... (More)
The development of the sharing economy that has taken place in recent decades is an effect of digitalisation, which has led to work being supplied through digital platforms having taken place in the labour market. Platform work can look different in many ways depending on the platform's business model and this development has led the platform's workers to be in a position where it is unclear whether they belong to the category of employees or self-employed. With this background, this essay aims to describe and analyze today's platform work and how the work relates to the concept of employment in civil law. The protection of Swedish labor law is mainly given to workers, and the platform workers who fall under the category self-employed are as a result outside the regulation.

The concept of employment lacks a legal definition and guidance has been developed in preliminary work, doctrine and practice, and there is also a separate concept of employment developed through the case law of the European Court of Justice. In order to determine whether there is an employment relationship, the individual case is examined in relation to all relevant circumstances in an overall assessment. The concept is given a broad interpretation in Swedish law and this means that the delimitation is flexible in such a way that it takes into account circumstances surrounding the employment relationship and not just the agreement itself.

It is concluded that, at present, no general statement can be made about which category platform workers fall into, employees or self-employed. The circumstances that are taken into account when assessing indicate that workers of certain platforms are included in the traditional concept of employee in Swedish law. Other platform companies operate in a way that indicates that their workers should be considered self-employed. It all depends on the circumstances of the individual case and not least on the business model of the platform in question. Against this background, the basic requisites to be considered in the delimitation of the concept of employee seem to be possible to apply to platform work.

There are as of yet no judgments from the Swedish Labour Court concerning the employment status of platform workers, but an EU judgment is included to give nuance to the discussion. Legal dogmatic method is used to explain the concept of employment in both Swedish law and EU law to apply the concept to platform workers in the next stage. In recent years, the European Court of Justice has expanded the requirements for national legislation to implement EU minimum standards in labour law, and EU law therefore appears to be able to play a significant role in future interpretation issues, even though the EU concept of employee does not appear to be comprehensive and still leaves some scope for national legislation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Axelsson, Jenny LU
supervisor
organization
course
HARN30 20201
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Delningsekonomi, plattformsarbete, arbetstagarbegreppet, egenföretagare
language
Swedish
id
9015066
date added to LUP
2020-06-11 14:02:26
date last changed
2020-06-12 13:28:03
@misc{9015066,
  abstract     = {{The development of the sharing economy that has taken place in recent decades is an effect of digitalisation, which has led to work being supplied through digital platforms having taken place in the labour market. Platform work can look different in many ways depending on the platform's business model and this development has led the platform's workers to be in a position where it is unclear whether they belong to the category of employees or self-employed. With this background, this essay aims to describe and analyze today's platform work and how the work relates to the concept of employment in civil law. The protection of Swedish labor law is mainly given to workers, and the platform workers who fall under the category self-employed are as a result outside the regulation.

The concept of employment lacks a legal definition and guidance has been developed in preliminary work, doctrine and practice, and there is also a separate concept of employment developed through the case law of the European Court of Justice. In order to determine whether there is an employment relationship, the individual case is examined in relation to all relevant circumstances in an overall assessment. The concept is given a broad interpretation in Swedish law and this means that the delimitation is flexible in such a way that it takes into account circumstances surrounding the employment relationship and not just the agreement itself.

It is concluded that, at present, no general statement can be made about which category platform workers fall into, employees or self-employed. The circumstances that are taken into account when assessing indicate that workers of certain platforms are included in the traditional concept of employee in Swedish law. Other platform companies operate in a way that indicates that their workers should be considered self-employed. It all depends on the circumstances of the individual case and not least on the business model of the platform in question. Against this background, the basic requisites to be considered in the delimitation of the concept of employee seem to be possible to apply to platform work.

There are as of yet no judgments from the Swedish Labour Court concerning the employment status of platform workers, but an EU judgment is included to give nuance to the discussion. Legal dogmatic method is used to explain the concept of employment in both Swedish law and EU law to apply the concept to platform workers in the next stage. In recent years, the European Court of Justice has expanded the requirements for national legislation to implement EU minimum standards in labour law, and EU law therefore appears to be able to play a significant role in future interpretation issues, even though the EU concept of employee does not appear to be comprehensive and still leaves some scope for national legislation.}},
  author       = {{Axelsson, Jenny}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Arbetstagare eller egenföretagare? - En arbetsrättslig analys av plattformsarbetares rätt till anställning}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}