Rulings in employment lawsuits between delivery workers and platforms

Abstract

This article, in the employment law field, analyses rulings from the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 15^th Brazil’s Labor Regional Courts, from 2017 to the first semester of 2020, in lawsuits discussing employment status between delivery workers and digital platforms. It aims to map the judicial reasoning of the rulings. It starts with the summary of plaintiff’s and defendant’s allegations, then exposes the methodology, after that, judicial reasoning patterns are presented. The mapping process showed controversial issues about platform’s business model, working conditions and of Labor Courts’ role when dealing with platforms. In the decisions that classified deliverers as employees, it was argued that platforms run delivery businesses, that their relation with workers should abide by employment law, moved by a greater number of legal norms. In those that did not, it was argued that deliverers are independent contractors, that platform work does not fit in employment law, moved only by the legal norms that shape both employer and employee. The analysis of the rulings shows that the employment law ought to adapt to new realities.