WORK ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS: PRESUMPTION OF SUBORDINATION COMING SOON IN ITALY
Law No. 91 of 13 June 2025, whereby the Italian Parliament granted the Government of the Italian Republic numerous powers to transpose European Union directives (the so-called EU Delegation Law 2024), entered into force on 10 July 2025.
The text of Article 11 of the aforementioned law concerns the guiding principles and criteria for the exercise of the delegation for the transposition of Directive (EU) 2024/2831 on improving working conditions in platform work. The latter is defined by the directive itself (Article 2, paragraph 1, letter b) as “work organised through a digital labour platform and performed in the Union by an individual on the basis of a contractual relationship between the digital labour platform or an intermediary, and the individual, irrespective of whether there is a contractual relationship between the individual or an intermediary and the recipient of the service”.
Specifically, in order to implement this transposition, Article 11 of the new law requires amendments and/or additions to the current Chapter V-bis of Legislative Decree 81/2015 in order to establish the 'presumption of subordination' (provided for in Article 5 of the Directive), whereby – where there are facts indicating direction and control in work on digital platforms – it is not the person performing the work who must prove that they are subordinate, but the digital platform itself that bears the burden of proving the contrary.
To complete the safeguards aimed at improving working conditions on digital platforms, Article 11 establishes the other steps necessary for the transposition of the EU directive:
- the adaptation of the definition of “digital labour platform”;
- the identification of appropriate and efficient procedures to correctly determine the nature of the employment relationship of persons working on digital platforms;
- the introduction of limits on the processing of personal data through automated systems;
- the adaptation of social security protections;
- the definition of transparent information procedures on the management of personal data;
- the renewal and strengthening of health and safety measures, including rules against harassment and violence.
