The Gray Area of Employment Relationship in The Gig Economy and The Direction of Labor Law Reform
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69916/iuris.v4i2.615Keywords:
Employment Relationship, Gig Economy, Gig Workers, Labor Law ReformAbstract
This study aims to analyze why the labor regulatory framework in Indonesia has not been able to provide legal certainty and protection for gig workers and formulates directions for labor law reform. This research employs a normative legal method with a descriptive-analytical approach, using statutory, conceptual, and comparative legal analyses to assess the compatibility of existing legal norms with digital labor practices. The novelty of this study lies in its substantive interpretation of legal relations in the gig economy, emphasizing the factual fulfillment of employment relationship elements rather than the formal designation of partnership status. The findings show that Indonesia’s labor regulations remain predominantly designed for conventional employment relationships, leaving gig workers without sufficient legal recognition and social protection. Accordingly, labor law reform should encompass the redefinition of employment relationships in the Labor Law, recognition of gig workers as workers based on the substance of their working relationship, expansion of social security through the Wage Earner Scheme, stronger state oversight of algorithmic management, broader occupational safety and health protection covering digital and psychosocial risks, and the establishment of adaptive implementing regulations capable of keeping pace with technological innovation and the digital economy.
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