Challenges of digitalization of work process – comparative experiences in threatening and protecting the basic rights of workers

Abstract

The development of modern labour law is conditioned by changes that necessarily occur in work processes. New technologies are being introduced almost constantly, making certain rights (and obligations) of workers more relevant and unavoidable - such as the right to professional development and adaptation to new technological solutions. This does not refer only to production activities, but on the contrary permeates the entire economy and redefines the attitude towards workers. Such development implies certain benefits for workers – they are far more productive with fewer working hours, jobs they perform are less demanding both physically and intellectually, and safety at work increases. However, the digitalisation of the work process also brings challenges when it comes to preserving basic rights based on labour. This does not only mean the ubiquitous fear of replacing workers with machines, but above all the processes that some authors called “hacking labour law“, which boil down to the use of modern technologies to impose working conditions that are below internationally achieved standards, and often below the national minimum standards set by labor law.

There are two types of these challenges. One refers to workers who perform jobs in traditional occupations, and who are under the influence of digitalisation of the work process, primarily due to established new rules in exercising certain rights that belong to them, ie due to modifications of individual tasks in the work process. Some of challenges they face are already known: problems with GPS tracking of workers, eavesdropping on their communication, excessive surveillance. However, threats and violations of their rights are also possible through algorithms that automatically calculate their working norm, working hours, wages and increased wages. The second type of workers are the so-called “digital workers” who are completely dependent on information and communication technologies when performing work. A classic example of these workers are the so-called platform workers.

The research is focused on both of these categories of workers, following some basic trends in comparative legislation and case law, as well as relevant views of authors who deal with issues of digitalisation of work. Several European countries were discussed, while Serbia was primarily mentioned in the context of comparing the state of legislation and the perception of the existence of violations of workers' rights.

Comparative and normative method, case analysis and to some extent statistical method were applied. The basic hypothesis is the question whether the digitalisation of labour must redefine the content of the employment relationship and whether labour law must adapt to the factual situation dictated by the development of technologies used in the labour process?