Platform economy database
Database of initiatives and court cases in the EU
Eurofound’s platform economy database provides information on 411 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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Sweden
The Supreme Labour Court of Sweden has ruled on the employment status of a moped courier working for Foodora. According to the court, the platform worker was not employed by Foodora, but by a staffing agency which supplied workers to the platform.
The moped courier had initially signed a temporary employment contract with Foodora and continued working for the platform even after the contract ended. The courier was later suspended from the app that assigned his shifts. The Swedish Transport Workers’ Union, representing the courier, argued that the courier was employed directly by Foodora and that this suspension constituted a wrongful dismissal. Foodora, on the other hand, contended that the courier was employed by Pay Salary, which had supplied the worker to the platform.
The court’s primary focus was on determining whether the courier was employed by Foodora or not. The court explained that when a staffing agency supplies workers, the worker is typically considered employed by the agency, even if they perform work for the client company. The court further clarified that in cases of employee leasing, the typical employer functions are split between the staffing agency (which pays the salary) and the client company (which supervises the work). This means that the overall assessment that is typically made to assess whether a person is an employee or a contractor cannot be directly applied in cases of employee leasing. Instead, the key to determining employment status lies in the agreements between the staffing agency, the worker, and the client company.
The agreement between Foodora and Pay Salary stated that Pay Salary would assume employer responsibilities for the workers it supplied to Foodora and would sign employment agreements with them. In this case, the courier had a contract with Pay Salary, but none existed with Foodora. The court ruled that the courier was employed by Pay Salary, not directly by Foodora. Thus, the suspension was not a wrongful dismissal by Foodora.
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.
