European Union: Proposed directive on improving working conditions in digital platform work including regulation of employment status

On 9 December 2021, the European Commission published its proposal for a Directive on improving working conditions in digital platform work, which would include regulations on the working status of people working for digital platforms. The proposal would require Member States to have rules in place to allow the classification of the working status of platform workers, guided by the circumstances of the actual performance of the work rather than the classification used in the applicable contract. It would further create a (rebuttable) legal presumption of employment status for working through digital platforms. The proposal was published as part of a wider set of proposals relating to platform work, including new draft guidelines on the application of EU competition law to the sector.