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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Italy
On 7 April 2018, the Employment Tribunal of Turin rejected a claim from six riders of the food delivery platform Foodora who asked to be reclassified as employees. The riders argued that they had been disconnected from the platform as a form of retaliation of the company against their decision to go on strike. The judge denied employee status based on the alleged freedom of workers to decide when to work and to disregard previously agreed shifts (Ruling 7/5/2018 n. 778)
Motivation for ruling against employee status:
Supreme Court (Corte di Cassazione), confirming the Court of Appeal of Turin's decision.
Motivation for Ruling:
The following recent changes to this court ruling have been recorded.
In 2019, the Court of Appeal in Turin overturned a lower court ruling, determining that Foodora riders were not subordinate employees but were entitled to similar protections.
The court classified them under "hetero-organised" collaborations per Article 2 of Legislative Decree 81/2015, a hybrid between subordinate and autonomous work. This classification was based on the riders' continuous personal work and the company’s control over work times and locations. Despite having some freedom in choosing shifts, riders followed company-defined protocols, faced penalties for delays, and were monitored via GPS. They started from predefined locations, followed platform-established routes, and used company-branded equipment. The decision led Foodora to appeal to the Supreme Court (Cassazione).
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.
