Crowdworking ruling


Germany’s largest union, IG Metall, has expressed its unhappiness at a decision by the labour court in Munich that an agreement between an individual and an online platform to work on a regular basis could not be seen as an employment contract. The ruling means the individual therefore did not have employee rights.


The judgment, made in December, concerned an individual who went from shop to shop to check that branded goods were appropriately displayed. 


The court found that despite the fact that the individual got instructions through the platform, had to complete the task within two hours of accepting it and was financially dependent on the work, there was no employment relationship. 


The court said this was because the individual was not bound by the platform’s instructions.


IG Metall backed the case. It said it would consider appealing against the unexpected outcome once it had seen the full judgment.