The Legal Qualification of Platform Workers: A Breakthrough in France? (Cass. Soc. 28 November 2018, No. 17-20.079, Take Eat Easy)
Résumé
The platform economy has profoundly transformed our labour markets. By engaging mainly self-employed contractors, platforms such as Take Eat Easy for food delivery in France are challenging our reasoning on the worker qualification. Do we consider these riders as subordinate workers? The French Court of cassation has recently replied that self-employed platform service providers can act for misclassification in order to be qualified as workers and benefit from workers’ rights. Does this qualification extend to other companies and sectors? Which are the relevant criteria for the French decision?