On the (mis)classification of paid labor: When should gig workers have employee status?

Politics, Philosophy and Economics 20 (3):229-250 (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The emergence of so-called ‘gig work’, particularly that sold through digital platforms accessed through smartphone apps, has led to disputes about the proper classification of workers: Should platform workers be classified as independent contractors (as platforms typically insist), or as employees of the platforms through which they sell labor (as workers often claim)? Such disputes have urgency due to the way in which employee status is necessary to access certain benefits such as a minimum wage, sick pay, and so on. In addition, classification disputes have philosophical significance because their resolution requires some foundational account of why the law should make a distinction between employed and freelance workers in the first place. This paper aims to fill this foundational gap. Central to it is the idea that employment involves a worker ceding certain freedoms in return for a degree of security, at least with respect to income. Insofar as the misclassification objection has force against digital platforms, it is when a platform is attempting to have it both ways: Workers are giving up freedom but not being granted a proportionate increase in security. As I shall explain, this approach offers some flexibility as to how actual disputes might be resolved – justice may be indifferent between whether platforms offer greater security or permit workers greater freedom, provided they do at least one of these things.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,221

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Silos and First Movers in the Sharing Economy Debates.Diane M. Ring - 2019 - The Law and Ethics of Human Rights 13 (1):61-96.
A Normative Argument for Independent Voice and Labor Unions.Cedric E. Dawkins - 2019 - Journal of Business Ethics 155 (4):1153-1165.
Workers on the Margin: Who Drops Health Coverage When Prices Rise?Edward N. Okeke, Richard A. Hirth & Kyle Grazier - 2010 - Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing 47 (1):33-47.
Are There Moral Limits to Wage Inequality?Kory P. Schaff - 2021 - In Anders Örtenblad (ed.), Equal Pay for All. Cham, Switzerland: pp. 167-81.
Dual Labor Market.Andrzej Klimczuk & Magdalena Klimczuk-Kochańska - 2016 - In Nancy Naples, Renee Hoogland, Wickramasinghe C., Wong Maithree & Wai Ching Angela (eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 1--3.
Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation.Matt Zwolinski - 2007 - Business Ethics Quarterly 17 (4):689-727.
Sweatshop Regulation and Workers’ Choices.Jessica Flanigan - 2018 - Journal of Business Ethics 153 (1):79-94.
Workers without Rights.Paul Gomberg - 2017 - Symposion: Theoretical and Applied Inquiries in Philosophy and Social Sciences 4 (1):49-76.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-05-04

Downloads
35 (#393,691)

6 months
5 (#244,526)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Daniel Halliday
University of Melbourne

Citations of this work

Self-Employment and Independence.Iñigo González-Ricoy - forthcoming - In Julian Jonker & Grant J. Rozeboom (eds.), Working as Equals. Oxford University Press.
The goods (and bads) of self‐employment.Jahel Queralt - 2023 - Journal of Political Philosophy 31 (3):271-293.

Add more citations