Documents Gramano, Elena 11 results

"This article examines the intricate relationship between competition law and collective rights in EU regulations, critically assessing whether and to what extent self-employed workers can exercise collective rights based on the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) case law. Additionally, it considers the European Commission's recent initiative to acknowledge and expand the collective dimension of self-employed workers. To address the specific collective rights of genuine self-employed workers, the Commission, acting in its capacity as the EU's competition authority, has taken steps in the Guidelines on the Application of Union Competition Law to Collective Agreements to steer towards a renewed interpretation of the scope of application of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), with the aim of excluding collective bargaining agreements concluded by or on behalf of certain categories of soloself-employed workers from its scope.


In light of this move, the article provides a critical analysis of the Guidelines and evaluates the degree to which the current EU legal framework aligns with fundamental collective rights. while attempting to offer renewed hermeneutical solutions to alter the consolidated line of systematic construction of the relationship between collective rights and competition law."

"Le nuove modalità di organizzazione del lavoro e di offerta dei servizi sul mercato mediante le c.d. piattaforme digitali sembrano avere messo in crisi i tradizionali canoni legali di qualificazione dei rapporti di lavoro. Il meccanismo di funzionamento delle piattaforme, infatti, sembra mettere insieme una serie di problemi “vecchi” in una combinazione inedita. Da un lato, le piattaforme si presentano sul mercato come soggetti dalla struttura organizzativa apparentemente rarefatta, che si muove sui fili degli algoritmi; dall'altro, coloro che collaborano con esse sembrano farlo in modo spontaneo, volontario, casuale, flessibile.
L'articolo sostiene che, di fronte a modelli di organizzazione del lavoro del tutto nuovi, laddove l'esercizio dei poteri datoriali si spersonalizza per mezzo della tecnica e il datore di lavoro non deve piu` preoccuparsi di buona parte del profilo gestionale dell'organizzazione che a lui fa capo, si deve attribuire rilevanza ad elementi finora rimasti ai margini della indagine sulla qualificazione. Fattori quali la piena coincidenza dell'attività lavorativa con l'oggetto sociale del datore di lavoro e la conseguente essenzialità dell'apporto dei lavoratori alla resa del servizio proposto dalla piattaforma sul mercato.
La conclusione e`nel senso che si possa fortemente dubitare della genuina autonomia del lavoratore 1) che sia sottoposto a un potere direttivo, pure spersonalizzato, automatizzato ed esercitato secondo modalità che non implicano un contatto diretto tra la piattaforma ed il lavoratore; 2) la cui attività coincida integralmente con l'oggetto sociale dell'impresa con cui collabora; 3) sui cui grava l'obbligo di rendere la prestazione, almeno in una misura minima; 4) che nel caso concreto rende la prestazione con continuatività."

"The article aims at providing an exhaustive description of the current scope of application of labour law, with the goal to assess who is entitled to exercise fundamental labour and social rights within the Italian legal system. More specifically, this assessment is used to test the main hypothesis of the Authors of the ETUC report ‘New trade union strategies for new forms of employment', according to which the idea of the ‘personal work relation' may be used to redefine the personal scope of application of labour law as applicable to any person that is ‘engaged by another to provide labour, unless that person is genuinely operating a business on her or his own account'. The article concludes that, although the Italian legal system cannot be currently reframed around the idea of the ‘personal work relation', there are few signs under Italian law of a trend of enlarging the scope of application of labour laws in order to apply certain traditional labour rights not only to employees but also to certain types of independent contractors. "

" While much of the emphasis has been on when and how economies may safely re-open due to the coronavirus pandemic, this article studies the undervalued workplace considerations therein. The initial responses of Member States to the pandemic are outlined for the purpose of setting out similarities and distinctions, but also and mostly to foreground an analysis to date of unresolved problems related to work. Important points for continued monitoring are also identified and an overview of some of the employment law considerations in re-opening workplaces are critically assessed. Consequently, teleworking garners particular attention due to its prominent role during the lockdown and its possible growing place in labour law in the near future."

"The article offers an assessment of the social protection granted to self-employed workers in the EU and Italian legal systems. It is structured as follows: first, the EU regulation currently in force is analysed to assess whether and to what extent self-employed workers can be considered entitled to social protection; second, self-employment under Italian law is analysed. The regulatory choices that set the Italian system apart from the current EU regulatory trends are highlighted, especially with regard to the use of self-employment as grounds for ad hoc regulation, and not only as the other side of the coin in relation to standard employment. In fact, since 2017, Italy has provided an ad hoc regulatory framework for self-employment, which, though not comparable to that for standard employees in terms of the level of protection, provides incipient protection specifically designed for self-employed workers. More recently, measures have been taken to support self-employed workers during market transitions and joblessness, especially in the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, which in turn gave rise to the need for extraordinary income support measures self-employed workers. On the other hand, the EU continues to focus on related albeit clearly distinct issues: the fight against bogus self-employment and the extension of social protection to particularly vulnerable workers who fall outside the scope of protection of employment law. The proposed directive on platform work is the most recent evidence of this: by means of an unprecedented system of legal presumptions, it seeks to bring platform work within the regulatory scope of standard employment. In light of these developments, the concluding remarks argue that self-employment is worthy of attention on the part of the EU, not merely to avoid the circumvention of the obligations for standard employment, but above all to adopt ad hoc regulations that acknowledge and protect self-employed workers' interests while safeguarding their social citizenship and dignity. It is argued that there is no conflict between the extension of the protection granted to employees on open-ended contracts to new types of work with a view to strengthening protection for self-employed workers."