Regulación laboral en España de las plataformas digitalespresente y futuro

Abstract

The so-called Rider Law (Law 12/2021), the result of a social agreement, establishes a presumption of employment in the field of digital merchandise delivery platforms. This presumption associates employment with the organization, direction and control directly, indirectly or implicitly, through the algorithmic management of the service or working conditions, through a digital platform. Our study is not so much an analysis of the conditions of this presumption, which has been the subject of doctrinal attention, but of the consequences of its application in the two years of validity of this norm. The reality shows that the sector of digital merchandise delivery platforms continues to operate with corrected models of self-employment and that, in companies with freedom of choice for the rider, the presence of self-employment is overwhelming. The application of this Law has therefore created great frustration. In this article we investigate the causes of this conflict between normative desire and reality. On this basis, we analyze the path that the draft European directive on digital platforms already marks, with greater legal certainty and flexibility. And, from these considerations, we provide proposals for the regulation of digital platforms that do not lead to this transformation, opening three models: special employment relationship, fleets and economically dependent self-employed with social protection.