On 10 January 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor published a final rule on employee or independent contractor status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
On 9 February 2022, the High Court of Australia confirmed in two different decisions that, determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor, the most important elements are the written agreement and the contractual terms.
It also confirms that the Court is overtaking the multi-factorial test applied in the past in this kind of decisions.
The well-regulated agency work model facilitates the flexibility of and access to a diverse jobs market, enabling individuals to enjoy genuine independent or self-employed status without compromising their social rights and employment protections
For these reasons, agency work can be a leading model for the platform work economy.
The Portuguese Government approved a broad-ranging labour reform draft bill that also aims to implement a rebuttable presumption of employment specific for platform workers to to ease worker reclassification as employees instead of independent contractors.
Such a proposal will still need to get the final approval from Parliament, depending on the results of the 30 January 2022 snap general elections. If passed by the Parliament, drivers for ride-hailing, delivery and other apps, would be treated as presumed employees rather than self-employed.
On 31 August 2021, the First Instance Argentine Labour Court ruled on the legal nature of the work relationship between a vehicle driver and a platform company.
It stated that a driver of the platform was misclassified as contactor and therefore, was under an unregistered employment relationship with the company.
On 13 September 2021, the Amsterdam District Court, in alignment with a previous judgment in a Deliveroo’s case, ruledin first instance that Uber drivers are employees and that the sectoral collective labour agreement (CAO Taxivervoer) would apply to Uber drivers, including pay requirements and some benefits.
The Court stated that three elements must be considered to decide if there is an employment agreement: personal performance of work, in exchange for payment of wages and in the service of the employer (a relationship of authority).
On 29 July 2021, the U.S. Department of Labour announced a final rule to rescind the previous on, “Joint Employer Status under the Fair Labour Standards Act” (FLSA), that took effect in March 2020.
Rescinding that rule on assessing who can be jointly liable as an employer will increase the risk of liability when using independent contractors.
The final rule becomes effective on 28 September 2021.