A step towards digital self- & co-determination in the context of algorithmic management systems

Abstract

Developing a legal framework for algorithmic decision-making and monitoring represents one of the main challenges of modern societies, deeply rooted in the technical complexity and the resultant inability to cognitively capture the inner workings of the relevant technology. In the employment context, the additional challenge boils down to ensuring a regulatory balance between the managerial prerogatives of the employer without compromising any human rights of the workers. Algorithmic management for years remained thus, apart from EU general data protection rules, largely unregulated phenomenon.

The contribution focuses on providing a preliminary assessment of the algorithmic management provisions of chapter III of the proposal for a Directive on improving the working conditions in platform work, and outlining recommendations for strengthening the platform workers’ rights to digital self- and co-determination, that seems to be fundamental for mitigating the profound asymmetries of knowledge and power observed in the platform economy.