Work-related Securities: An Alternative Approach to Protect the Workforce?

Abstract

As a result of flexibilization, many workers are exposed to increased insecurity with regard to job tenure, decent income and employability, finding themselves in precarious situations and experiencing economic and social inequality. The contract of employment is – still – the main entrance ticket to labour protection. Since an increasing number of workers are not employed in a standard employment relationship and hence are not or are insufficiently protected, this raises the question of whether the employment contract, the key institution connecting labour law, social security and pension law, can still be seen as the norm. The question arises as to how these workers should be protected. Excluding workers from the benefits of labour law merely because a work relationship does not qualify as an employment relationship – with the legal form of the employment contract – does not seem to be compelling. This article explores whether there is an alternative to the existing test of whether an individual has an employment relationship: a workrelated securities approach that would grant all workers regardless of the legal classification of their relationship certain rights depending on the insecurities attached to their particular jobs. This approach would have the advantage of preserving the diverse forms of work while focusing on improving the quality of work and the protection of the workforce.