Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 412 initiatives and court cases that exist or have been implemented in relation to activities in the platform economy. The database was last updated in March 2025 and provides metadata for each entry, such as geographical scope, year, type of initiative, actors involved, sector and companies concerned. Initiatives include legal instruments such as legislative changes or court decisions, as well as voluntary interventions undertaken by different stakeholders to address issues around platform work.
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Italy
In November 2020, the Court of Palermo ruled that the Spanish delivery platform Glovo had to classify its couriers as full-time employees. A courier had taken the case to court with the help of a local branch of the Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) to denounce Glovo for deactivating his account. As a result, Glovo was urged to pay the courier per hour instead of on a per-delivery-basis.
The dispute was about the correct classification of employment status, specifically whether a rider (ciclo-fattorino) working for a food delivery platform (Foodinho, acquired by Glovo) was an employee or a self-employed worker.
The defendant (the rider) claimed to be an employee, arguing that:
The ruling was made at the first instance level (Tribunale di Palermo, sentenza n. 7283/2020).
The motivations for the ruling in favour of employee status include:
The platform economy is one of those moving targets, which, despite receiving increasing media and policy attention, has proven difficult to regulate. Given the heterogeneity of employment relationships, business models, types of platform work and cross-border issues, this is not surprising.
Technological change is accelerating as the capacity of electronic devices to digitally store, process and communicate information expands. Digitalisation is transforming the EU economy and labour markets: nearly one-third of EU workplaces are categorised as highly digitalised. What are the implications of the digital revolution for employment and work?
The rapid rise of the platform economy has led to a marked transformation of European labour markets, and existing regulatory frameworks and voluntary initiatives have yet to catch up. While platform work offers opportunities for workers and employers and potentially contributes to innovation, economic growth and competitiveness in the EU, it has been criticised from the beginning because of the poor employment and working conditions often experienced by workers.
While 2020 may come to be seen as the year platform work gathered pace and started to go mainstream – thanks in large part to COVID-19 containment measures sparking an increase in food and grocery delivery – 2021 could be the year that regulation of platform work is set in motion.
