New Concept of Employment: Development of Labor Relations in the Digital Age

Abstract

The role and underlying functionality of labor law are radically changing in the current geopolitical and economic context. Though it gives rise of relations that follow specific rules non-standard forms of employment like outstaffing, gig employment, self-employment, spot employment etc., they may escape any regulation. At the same time, the role of integrative associations at work, transnational corporations is changing. The digitization in labor law is reaching a principally new level. While new methods of business cooperation and social communications will trigger the emergence of new effective forms of employment, the applicable labor law does not adequately follow realities of the day nor takes into account new and various forms of engaging people in specific activities including work. In December of 2022 a meeting on the draft “On Employment” was held at the State Duma. The draft had chapters addressing relations involved in platform work, non-standard forms of employment, etc. However, the draft raised a discussion and was revised, with outstaffing to be regulated under new principles. However, while the draft is not made effective, it can be amended and specified to make the proposed subject even more relevant. Therefore a need to conceptualize new forms of employment and to further improve the relevant legislation is a major area of action today. Moreover, automation at work, while bringing positive developments such as the use of robots able of better performing identical and repetitive tasks, is also fraught with various risks. At that, the increasing use of artificial intelligence is another threat to employment of the population. It is only logical that digitization at work entails non-standard forms of using classical institutions, opening up new possibilities to use social partnership, particularly, in the activities of sectoral unions for regulation of collective labor relations as discussed below in the paper. Author looks at issue of remote work and the nature of approaches to regulation of the underlying relations from a perspective of qualitative changes to regulation of electronic communication between workers and employers as part of remote legal relationships. It is proposed to revise relevant areas of research of mentioned and other relations to address contemporary challenges emerging in the field of labor law in the digital age.