Min chef är en app - en diskussion om arbetstagar- och arbetsgivarbegreppet i gig-ekonomin

Sammanfattning: The rise of the gig economy in the Swedish labour market has lead to several legal questions concerning labour law. This essay aims to discuss one of these questions, namely how the traditional concepts of employee and employer are holding up in the gig economy. The reason for this legal issue is that the overall departure of the applicability of Swedish labour law is a bilateral labour market with the employee enjoying a full-time permanent employment. The gig economy however is based on a tri-party arrangement with a platform connecting customers with workers. There are no lasting relationships between the parties, since the work is temporary. Therefore, the scope of Swedish labour law does not suit the work arrangement of the gig economy very well. It follows that the workers of the gig economy are at risk of falling outside of the personal scope of labour law and therefore risk exclusion from labour law coverage all together. As it is the workers in the gig economy are considered by the platforms to be independent contractors. The platforms themselves are considered to be tech companies without both employees and any employer responsibility towards the workers, even though they often act as traditional employers. The essay results in a discussion that the scope of labour law is based on normative assumptions that make it difficult for those who are already in a weak position to obtain labour law coverage. The concept of employee does not exclude the workers per se but it follows a labour market where the gig economy is not included. The concept of employer is based on the contractual set-up as a the counterparty to an employment contract. As there is clear contractual counterparty in the gig economy the platforms can thus circumvent employer responsibility in their business. It will be up to the courts to decide whether the concept of employer could entail that acting as an employer could also mean having to shoulder employer responsibility.