The so-called ‘gig economy’ is the subject of much debate and dispute in modern employment law.  Some regard it as a working environment that offers flexible working hours, while others see it as a form of exploitation with the worker having few rights and very little workplace protection.

            Introduction

The gig economy is a controversial slogan which has gained popularity in the recent years mainly because of being a source of employment disputes. A gig economy can best be described as a labor setting that is dominated by the spread of short-run working contracts and freelance operations contrary to permanent jobs[1]. In other words, it is widely believed that it is a working environment that has high working flexibility in the context of working hours but an abuse since offers slightly to zero working protection. Gig workers are the members of the modern working environment involved in the provision of services on per task basis[2]. The number of gig workers is increasing rather rapidly due to the penetration of disruptive technologies in the United Kingdom and globally. The rate of employment has decreased gradually due to the rise of a high number of working populace that exceeds the existing working opportunities. An example of these workers includes Uber drivers and freelance operators. Employment status is the source of controversy in regard to the gig economy[3]. Employment status is vital since it is the main determinant of a person’s entitlements to workers protection rights. The gig economy is fueled by the notion of independent workers or contractors, which means that the employees are in operation on their own and have minimal employment protection.

It is projected that approximately 15 percent of the working populace in the United Kingdom’s labor market is categorized as self-employed in addition to the increasing number of gig workers which refers to the short run casual jobs[4]. It is worth noting that the UK employment law clearly distinguishes amid self-employed, workers and employees. This classification is important since employees and laborers are entitled certain privileges such as minimum wage and yearly leaves with respective pays. Employees are also eligible for more freedoms such as sick payment and defense against any discriminating treatment such as dismissal. On the other hand, self-employed contractors are not as lucky because they are not authorized to receive such treatments. It is unarguable that every employee regardless of the manner in which they perform their roles are entitled to protection from being mistreated and this is the reason as to why the gigs economy has acquired mixed responses.

Legally, the mutual obligation must be present in the existence of a contract despite the working status. This implies that all the involved parties should be obliged on fulfilling their roles. For the case of the Uber drivers, this obligation is there as the employers have agreed to pay for the jobs done at a certain amount. The most important aspect in the employment sector is protection rather than flexibility. With respect to the Gig economy, rather than the normal salaries authorized by the UK law, the employees acquire their payment on gig basis such as products delivery. From the recent studies in the UK, it is projected that more than five million individuals work under the gig economy setting[5]. The supporters of the gig economy assert that individuals can acquire benefits ranging from flexibility and work control while paying attention to other aspects of life. It is, however, arguably although this notion is true, the employer’s benefit more from the flexibility allows them to incur fewer expenses as they only pay the workers when work is obtainable[6]. Meanwhile, as the gig workers are categorized as independent contractors this means that they are not guarded against any unethical discharge, no redundancy payments privileges and cannot acquire minimum payments or holiday and sick pays[7]. These are the features that are evoking contentiousness. If the companies in the gig economy are pressured to provide choices to their workers with respect to employment alternatives these would be useful in guaranteeing fair treatment as authorized by the Employment law.  

The United Kingdom’s government is under intense pressure to alter the law in order to address counterfeit employment descriptions and offer adequate employment protection to the gig workers. Up to date, certain companies such as Uber retain the classification of its drivers as independent contractors rather than employees an approached that is highly praised for its ability to generate high-cost declines[8]. Despite the fact that certain provisions in the UK Human Relation Act that forbid discernment in the enforcement or creation of contracts are still applicable when an independent contractor is being applied, the involved companies are not required to make compensation or even comply with the employment status and laws for the respective classification[9]. In addition, based on the employment statutes that forbids contracts discrimination well classified independent contractors are not eligible for a corporation’s peripheral benefits.

Companies are not given the pleasure of selecting and picking different employment classifications but the task should be done appropriately. The association of employers and the workers in the gig economy is rather uncommon which has thus created fresh aspects of working control. For instance, for the Uber drivers, they normally come to work with their individualized equipment’s, select their working hours and they are entitled to rejecting work from the customers without any consequences which all indicate that they operate as independent contractors[10]. However, these workers are subjected to the company’s background examination and operate under set prices and if they are found with undesirable ratings they are therefore to be suspended which thus demonstrates that this is basically an employment relationship rather than a contractual based. The gig industry has grown rapidly, and it had acquired much analysis from governmental bodies which seek to determine whether the workers have been offered adequate working rights as provided by the wage and working hour’s laws in the UK[11]. Subsequently, taxing agencies are seeking to understand whether correct taxation sets have been applied. The classification of gig workers as independent contractors which has denied this populace working protection has been challenged highly in the recent.

The gig economy based on the above analysis mainly portrays the features of both contractual and employment relationship which has thus intensified debates regarding whether this trend depicts a completely fresh set of a workforce. In the last few months, two legal cases have been ruled in favor of the workers in opposition to the existing employee’s classification as independent workers. In the case of Uber v Uber drivers, the company lost after the court ruled that the drivers working for the company should be classified as employees rather than independent contractors based on their working status. The decision approved the notion that as employees under the Uk law they should qualify for minimum salaries and paid holidays. This ruling was similar to that of Mr. Aslam, Mr. Farrar & Ors v Uber, where the court opposed the argument that the drivers operate as independent contractors and are not therefore qualified for full employment benefits[12].

The utilization of independent contractor’s classification in the UK has increased dramatically in the recent years which is mainly claimed to be a contemporary approach of evading high operating expenses and ensuring that employees do not question their entitlements. The Employment Rights Act (1996) is the primary piece of regulation that monitors employment relationships in the UK[13]. This law is mainly involved in ensuring that the employees are not treated in a manner that is not ethical similar to the Fair Act[14]. On the other hand the Equality Act works to ensure that no kind or degree of discernment that prevalence in the workplace or in any other setting. Thus, the employees cannot be fired without any feasible cause or without acquiring any compensation and that all the workers must be treated in an equal manner regardless of their working status. This can best be illustrated by the case of Mersey Docks and Harbour Board v Coggins & Griffiths Ltd where the control test was utilized to determine the employment relationship[15]. The conclusion was that the worker was an employer and not as classified independent workers. On the other hand, the integration test was utilized in judging the case of Whittaker v MPNI where the court ruled that Whittaker was an independent worker and not an employee and was not therefore entitled to any privileges.

The entire UK’s economy and not just a matter of the gig workers have experienced a rise flexible working provisions in the recent period. [16]However, despite the benefits that the trends have brought to the economy by mainly transforming the manner in which business is conducted and being a source of revenue for development, not all the characteristics are justified. The classification of gig workers as self-employed is a controversy since the gig economy exhibits the features of worker and contractors relationships[17]. This classification as illustrated above are more beneficial to the employers rather than the employees due to the decreased working expenses as well as the ability to decide when the contracts end. In general, the employees are entitled to no privileges yet there is a mutual obligation amid the two that should be fulfilled. From the employment acts, it is not just that the staffs are to be classified as workers but they should also be able to enjoy the resulting benefits of the employment such as minimum salary and payable holidays[18].

In summing up, it is evident that the Gig economy has brought about a fresh set of working and employment strategies. Even though the economy is characterized by flexibility it cannot be ignored that the employees are, adequate protection. The employment law asserts that individuals must be guarded against unfair treatment that affects their wellness and improper execution of contracts an aspect that is being ignored by the contemporary employers. It can be concluded that gig workers are employees rather than independent workers since despite the flexibility that they enjoy, they are not involved in the setting of prices and monitoring of operations. This employee therefore deserves to be guarded fully against any kind of unlawful dismissal.

 

 

 

References

BBC. Key gig economy case reaches Supreme Court. BBC News (2017). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43115219

Brown, Mayer.  Key gig economy case reaches Supreme Court (2013). Retrieved from https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e940ecad-8e6c-44c6-9012-0dec1d3d7817

De Stefano, Valerio. "The Rise of the Just-in-Time Workforce: On-Demand Work, Crowdwork, and Labor Protection in the Gig-Economy." Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 37 (2015): 471.

Freedland, Mark R., and Jeremias Prassl. "Employees, Workers, and the'Sharing Economy': Changing Practices and Changing Concepts in the United Kingdom." (2017).

Hoffman, B.J and Andrea M. Krishenbaum. 2017. Is the ‘gig’ economy forcing changes in workforce classification? Retrieved from https://whyy.org/articles/essay-is-the-gig-economy-forcing-changes-in-workforce-classification/

Weil David. Lots of Employees Get Misclassified as Contractors. Harvard Business Review (2017). Here’s Why It Matters. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2017/07/lots-of-employees-get-misclassified-as-contractors-heres-why-it-matters

Wilson, Bill. What is the 'gig' economy? BBC News (2017). http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38930048

 

 

 

 

[1] Wilson, Bill. What is the 'gig' economy? BBC News (2017)

[2] Wilson, Bill. What is the 'gig' economy? BBC News (2017)

[3] Hoffman and Andrea Krishenbaum.  Is the ‘gig’ economy forcing changes in workforce classification? (2017)

[4] Hoffman and Andrea Krishenbaum.  Is the ‘gig’ economy forcing changes in workforce classification? (2017)

[5] De Stefano, Valerio. "The Rise of the Just-in-Time Workforce: On-Demand Work, Crowdwork, and Labor Protection in the Gig-Economy." Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J. 37 (2015)

[6] Wilson, Bill. What is the 'gig' economy? BBC News (2017)

[7] Wilson, Bill. What is the 'gig' economy? BBC News (2017)

[8] Hoffman and Andrea Krishenbaum.  Is the ‘gig’ economy forcing changes in workforce classification? (2017)

[9] Weil David. Lots of Employees Get Misclassified as Contractors. Harvard Business Review (2017)

[10] Brown, Mayer.  Key gig economy case reaches Supreme Court (2013)

[11] BBC. Key gig economy case reaches Supreme Court. BBC News (2017).

[12] Mr. Aslam, Mr. Farrar & Ors v Uber

[13] Brown, Mayer.  Key gig economy case reaches Supreme Court (2013)

[14] Weil David. Lots of Employees Get Misclassified as Contractors. Harvard Business Review (2017)

[15] Brown, Mayer.  Key gig economy case reaches Supreme Court (2013)

[16] Wilson, Bill. What is the 'gig' economy? BBC News (2017)

[17] BBC. Key gig economy case reaches Supreme Court. BBC News (2017).

[18] Freedland, Mark  and Jeremias Prassl. "Employees, Workers, and the'Sharing Economy': Changing Practices and Changing Concepts in the United Kingdom." (2017).