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Beyond Subordination: Four Arguments

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Defining and Protecting Autonomous Work

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Abstract

The chapter critically addresses the binary structure of labour law with the categories of subordinate work and self-employment. The distinction between these two categories is discussed on the basis of four arguments of a historical, sociological, economic, and comparative nature. These arguments show that the binary distinction is being overcome, if not completely overcome, and that labour law must cover work in all its forms (subordinate and autonomous) with a modulation of universalism and selectivity in the allocation of labour rights and social protections.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to the European Commission the concept of “economically dependent work” is a way to cover “situations which fall between the two established concepts of subordinate employment and independent self-employment”, COM(2006) 708 final GREEN PAPER, Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The document stated that those workers “occupy a ‘grey area’ between labour law and commercial law. Although formally ‘self-employed’, they remain economically dependent on a single principal or client/employer for their source of income.” The Commission initiated a study by A. Perulli, Economically dependent/quasi-subordinate (parasubordinate) employment: legal, social and economic aspects. Study for the EU Commission, Brussels, 2002.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Adalberto Perulli

  2. Paris Nanterre University, Nanterre, France

    Adalberto Perulli

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  1. Adalberto Perulli
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Correspondence to Adalberto Perulli .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics Marco Biagi, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Tindara Addabbo

  2. University of Naples “Parthenope”, Naples, Italy

    Edoardo Ales

  3. Department of Economics Marco Biagi and Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Ylenia Curzi

  4. Department of Economics Marco Biagi and Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Tommaso Fabbri

  5. Marco Biagi Foundation, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Olga Rymkevich

  6. University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

    Iacopo Senatori

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Perulli, A. (2022). Beyond Subordination: Four Arguments. In: Addabbo, T., Ales, E., Curzi, Y., Fabbri, T., Rymkevich, O., Senatori, I. (eds) Defining and Protecting Autonomous Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06397-8_4

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