The Contractual Framework of the Exploitation of Workers by Employers, in the Light of the First Hungarian Platform Case
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Abstract
In the first part of the paper, the authors distinguish between two main forms of working contracts: the traditional one and the one established through an electronic platform. In both cases, if the work is of a fixed (contingent) or more informal nature, an employment relationship exists. The former is a typical employment relationship, while the latter is atypical. Suppose the long-term client/agent becomes an employer and the dependency on it is even looser. In that case, the employee may become a permanent contractor/agent, but this is different in substance from the ad hoc contractor/agent relationship. It should therefore be regulated separately in the Civil Code, together with the employment contract. In the second part of the paper, the authors analyze a judgment in a lawsuit concerning a courier service for the delivery of food through an electronic platform intermediary, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the courier service provider was in a contractor/agent relationship and not in an employment relationship, as qualified by the Court of Cassation. However, the authors argue that the Court of Cassation’s position is also acceptable, which would allow for the classification of dependent self-employment arising from a formal self-employment.