플랫폼 종사자 보호를 위한 노동법적 지위 규정 방안- 노무제공관계의 다변화에 따른 종속성 판단을 중심으로 -

Abstract

Even though digital technologies have changed the notion of work and increased the flexibility of labour, fundamental problems of labour control still exist. For instance, platforms can figure out performance information of platform workers through PDA or mobile applications minute by minute and evaluate their performances and penalise them based on such information. This type of system is equivalent to the traditional control of employees by employers. Moreover, the emergence of the digital economy created new ways to provide labour, and workers who are in the grey zone between the employees and independent workers are not protected by the law. They are different from employees in that they do not receive specific orders from employers, but they are also different from independent workers since they do not have full control over the economic unit in which they work for. Since the current legal systems do not provide sufficient protection to them, this study suggests two major proposals on the classification of status in employment focusing on the degree of subordination of workers. The concept of an employee in labour laws and its interpretation of the Supreme Court should be changed to legally protect platform- dependent (almost the same degree as employees) workers from platforms. The Supreme Court has tried to broaden the extent of employees, but it was not consistent and did not consider the intrinsic characteristics of the platform industry. Bills introduced by the National Assembly are not appropriate in that they inadvertently reduce the range of employees. Thus, like the examples of the State of California, clarifying the degree of subordination of an employee to the control of an employer and the degree of economic dependency of an employee in relevant clauses is necessary. Furthermore, the degree of dependency of an employee on the economic unit for an organization―which is used as a criterion in employee classification by Germany and the ILO―should be added to the definition of an employee. These changes will broaden the extent of legal protection for workers who are in need. To properly protect platform workers in the grey area, it is necessary to restructure the legal classification systems of status in employment by introducing a new legal category. Acts including the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act state that only workers serving in certain occupations that are enumerated in the presidential decree can be protected. Unfortunately, the necessary degree of legal protection can differ between workers even if the workers engage in the same occupation. The degree of subordination of platform workers varies depending on how much the platforms control the task of the workers, not by the types of business they work for. Moreover, occupations not mentioned in the decrees cannot be protected by law until the decree is amended. Nevertheless, bills introduced by the National Assembly still restrictively specify the protected occupations. Some bills define a new legal category of labour, but even if workers are classified as having this new status, they cannot be protected by the Trade Union and Labour Relations Adjustment Act. Therefore, a new legal category that applies to the grey area between employee and independent worker, resembling the legal status of workers in German and French laws, should be added to the current labour code.