Decoding Employment Status

Simon Deakin

Working Papers from Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge

Abstract: There is much at stake in the classification of work relations: on the one hand, the stability of the tax base and the capacity of the state to deliver public goods; on the other, the structure of enterprise and the rights of workers in the ‘gig’ economy and beyond. Classification decisions, however, are made using legal concepts which many view as artificial and manipulable, to the point where it is hard to discern the considerations which are actually guiding decisions. Decomposing the ‘employment’ concept reveals something of the implicit ‘weighting’ of tests and indicators which underlies judicial and administrative determinations. Viewed in this light, statutory reformulations such as the ‘ABC’ test can play a role in ‘reweighting’ the classification process, extending the protective coverage of labour laws and resisting fiscal erosion.

Keywords: Labour law; tax law; employment status (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J83 K31 K34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-law and nep-pke
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