A discussão acerca do reconhecimento do vínculo empregatício entre motoristas de aplicativos e plataformas digitais: possíveis soluções e análise do PLP 12/2024

Abstract

The aim of this study is to demonstrate that the national legal framework has mechanisms capable of guaranteeing the social rights of app workers without the need to debate the recognition of the employment relationship. In the current digital economy scenario, so-called uber work has become the symbol of the business model based on digital platforms, representing the evolution of forms of work beyond the molds then known and provided for in the Consolidation of Labor Laws. However, given the particularities of this new type of work, there is a scenario of precariousness in uber work, characterized by a lack of social protection in terms of the delivery of these workers' historically and constitutionally guaranteed rights. The issue of the employment relationship is the main point of discussion between workers and digital platform companies, highlighting not only a position of hyposufficiency on the part of the workers, but also an impasse between the Labor Courts, whose decisions are in favor of recognizing the relationship, and the Federal Supreme Court, which is of the opinion that the employment relationship should not be recognized. This clash accentuates legal uncertainty, greatly compromising the delivery of the social rights guaranteed to these workers. Furthermore, the discussion about the employment relationship between app workers and platform companies is unproductive and unnecessary, since current national legislation has sufficient means to guarantee the delivery of their social rights beyond the contours of the Consolidation of Labor Laws. In light of this, and through theoretical research based on bibliographic and case law data with a deductive approach and qualitative character, the study points to possible solutions to guarantee the delivery of the social rights of app workers without the need to recognize the employment relationship and without harming the desires of the economic order and free enterprise. In conclusion, the study shows that alternatives such as classification as a micro-entrepreneur and autonomy, as also provided for in Complementary Bill 12/2024 as an embryonic proposal by the Federal Government to regulate the working relationship mediated by companies operating transport apps and drivers, prove to be viable for uberized workers by establishing mechanisms for social security inclusion and other rights to improve the working conditions of the category. These possible solutions can effectively guarantee the protection of app workers' social rights in an increasingly digitalized, liberal and competitive economy, representing an effort to find a balance between technological innovation and the minimum levels of social protection governed by national legislation