WORKERS' RIGHTS ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS: CHALLENGES FOR LABOR LEGISLATION

Abstract

This article analyzes the challenges posed to Labor Law by the expansion of digital platforms and the increasing "uberization" of labor relations. The advancement of service intermediation technologies has transformed the organization of work, allowing companies to operate through algorithmic systems responsible for distributing tasks, evaluating performance, and controlling workers' activity. Although these companies frequently classify service providers as self-employed or partners, in practice, economic dependence, lack of labor guarantees, and digital control mechanisms are observed, raising questions about the legal nature of these relationships. The concept of algorithmic subordination is highlighted, understood as the form of control exercised through algorithms and automated systems that organize the provision of services, establish performance criteria, and can apply sanctions to workers. In light of articles 2 and 3 of the Consolidation of Labor Laws, the presence of the classic elements of an employment relationship in the relations between digital platforms and service providers is analyzed. This study aims to demonstrate how technological mediation impacts the characterization of the employment relationship and to verify whether the traditional elements of the employment relationship remain present, even under new forms of digital control. To this end, basic exploratory research was adopted, based on the dialectical method and on bibliographic, documentary, and statistical surveys. It concludes that technological mediation does not eliminate the elements of the employment relationship, but reconfigures them through digital management and control mechanisms, highlighting the persistence of subordination, albeit under an algorithmic guise, and the need for legal interpretation compatible with this new reality.