The Notion of Subordination and the Presumption of Employment Relationship in the Perspective of Comparative Labour Law

Authors

• Adalberto Perulli, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice

Abstract

The concept of subordination serves as the key criterion for accessing social protection across civil law systems. Theoretically, subordination corresponds to what common law systems define — through multifactorial tests — as an employment (or service) contract, distinguishing it from self-employment. While this historic dichotomy is widely regarded as unsatisfactory and has long been questioned, the notion of subordination remains central to ensuring that workers receive the protection guaranteed under the labour law systems. Part I will address the problem of subordination as a fundamental legal category of labour law, rooted in contract law. Regardless of the complex legal origins of the regulatory concept of subordination and the subordinate status of employees, what I wish to emphasize here is the crisis surrounding this concept, i.e., that it no longer serves as an adequate foundation for the application of labour law protection. Part II addresses the presumption of an employment relationship. I argue that this presumption is an unsatisfactory methodological approach and that labour law should move beyond subordination as a necessary criterion for protection; only then can it ensure adequate social protection for all forms of personal work, regardless of whether they are classified as employment.

Recommended Citation

Perulli, Adalberto (2026) "The Notion of Subordination and the Presumption of Employment Relationship in the Perspective of Comparative Labour Law," Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal: Vol. 46: Iss. 1, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2819-2567.1115
Available at: https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cllpj/vol46/iss1/10

References

Aloisi, A. (2022). Platform work in Europe: Lessons learned, legal developments and challenges ahead. European Labour Law Journal, 13(1), 4–29. https://doi. org/10.1177/20319525211062557

Barassi, L. (1901). Il contratto di lavoro nel diritto positivo italiano. Società Editrice Libraria.

Beduschi, C. (2017). Tipologia e diritto. Scritti scelti (L. Nolger & Santucci, Eds.). Editoriale scientifica.

Block, S., & Sachs, B. (2020, September 22). Labor law must include all workers. American Compass. https://americancompass.org/labor-law-must-include-all-workers/

Collins, H. (2021). Employment as a relational contract. Thomson Reuters.

Countouris, N. (2019). Defining and regulating work relations for the future of work. International Labour Organization. https://www.ilo.org/publications/defining-and-regulating-work-relations-future-work

Countouris, N., & De Stefano, V. (2019). New trade union strategies for new forms of employment. European Trade Union Confederation. https://etuc.org/en/publication/new-trade-union-strategies-new-forms-employment

Cox, A. (1958). The legal nature of collective bargaining agreements. Michigan Law Review, 57(1), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/1286131

Davidov, G. (2016). A purposive approach to labour law. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198759034.001.0001

Davidov, G. (2018). Setting labour law’s coverage: Between universalism and selectivity. In A. Perulli (Ed.), Lavoro autonomo e capitalismo delle piattaforme (pp. 49–78). Wolters Kluwer.

Davidov, G., & Alon-Shenker P. (2022). The ABC test: A new model for employment status determination? Industrial Law Journal, 51(2), 235–276. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwac004

Davidov, G., Freedland, M., & Kountouris, N. (2015). The subjects of labor law: “Employees” and other workers. In M. W. Finkin & G. Mundlak (Eds.), Comparative labor Law (pp. 115–131). Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781000137.00011

Davies, P., & Freedland, M. (1983). Kahn-Freund’s labour and the law (3rd ed.). Stevens. https://law.exeter.ac.uk/v8media/facultysites/hass/law/hamlyn/Labour_and_the_Law.pdf

Deakin, S. (2001). The contract of employment: A study in legal evolution. Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, 11, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.3828/hsir.2001.11.1

Deakin, S. (2012). The corporation as commons: Rethinking property rights, governance and sustainability in the business enterprise. Queen’s Law Journal, 37(2), 339–381. https://journal.queenslaw.ca/sites/qljwww/files/Issues/Vol%2037%20i2/1.%20Deakin.pdf

De Stefano, V. (2022). The EU Commission’s proposal for a directive on platform work: An overview. Italian Labour Law e-Journal, 15(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/15233

De Stefano, V., Durri, I., Stylogiannis, C., & Wouters, M. (2024). Does labour law trust workers? Questioning underlying assumptions behind managerial prerogatives. Industrial Law Journal, 53(2), 206–238. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwad022

De Stefano, V., & Kountouris, N. (2024). “Lifting the private-law veil”: Employer authority and the “contractual-coating” of worker subordination. Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, 44(3), 274–304.

Fraser, N. (2023). Cannibal capitalism: How our system is devouring democracy, care, and the planet — and what we can do about it. Verso.

Freedland, M. (2003). The personal employment contract. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199298631.001.0001

Freedland, M. (2006). From the contract of employment to the personal work nexus. Industrial Law Journal, 35(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1093/indlaw/dwj001

Freedland, M. (2007). Sur l’application du droit du travail et de l’emploi au-delà du contrat de travail. Revue internationale du Travail, 146(1–2), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1564-9121.2007.00002.x

Freedland, M., & Kountouris, N. (2011). The legal construction of personal work relations. Oxford University Press.      https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199551750.001.0001

Gifford, D. G., Reynolds, W. L., & Murad, A. M. (2012). A case study in the superiority of the purposive approach to statutory interpretation: Bruesewitz v. Wyet. South Carolina Law Review, 64(2), 221–263. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/sclr/vol64/iss2/2

Gould W. B., IV, & Biasi, M. (2022). The rebuttable presumption of employment subordination in the US ABC-test and in the EU platform work directive proposal: A comparative overview. Italian Labour Law e-Journal, 15(1), 85–98. https://doi.org/10.6092/ issn.1561-8048/15221

Gramano, E. (2022). Jus variandi: fondamento, disciplina e tutela collettiva della professionalità. Franco Angeli.

Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. Chicago University Press.

Kullmann, M. (2022). “Platformisation” of work: An EU perspective on introducing a legal presumption. European Labour Law Journal, 13(1), 66–80. https://doi. org/10.1177/20319525211063112

International Labour Organization. (2019). ILO centenary outcome document (Report IV, International Labour Conference, 108th Session). International Labour Organization. https://ilo.org/resource/conference-paper/ilc/108/ilo-centenary-outcome-document

International Labour Organization. (2021). World employment and social outlook 2021: The role of digital labour platforms in transforming the world of work. International Labour Organization. https://ilo.org/publications/flagship-reports/role-digital-labour-platforms-transforming-world-work

Langille, B. A., & Mayer-Goodman, B. (2025). Hunting for employees, employers, independent contractors, dependent contractors and other figments of the legal imagination. Dalhousie Law Journal, 48(1), 261–289. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4587945

Lavasseur, E. (1863). Storia delle classi lavoratrici in Francia dalla conquista di Giulio Cesare fino alla rivoluzione. In Biblioteca dell’Economista (Vol. 3, pp. 921–1343). Stamperia dell’Unione Tipografico-Editrice.

Lyon-Caen, G. (1990). Le droit du travail non salarié. Sirey.

Lyon-Caen, G., Pélissier, J., & Supiot, A. (1998). Droit du travail. Dalloz.

Wedderburn, Lord. (1986). The worker and the law (3rd ed.). Penguin Books,

MacCormick, N. (2008). Practical reason in law and morality. Oxford University Press.

Macneil, I. R. (1978). Contracts: Adjustment of long-term economic relations under classical and neoclassical, and relational contract taw. Northwestern University Law Review, 72(6), 854–905. http://alliancecontractingelectroniclawjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ MacNeil-I.-1977-1978-%E2%80%98Contracts-Adjustment-of-Long-Term-Economic- Relations-Under-Classical-Neoclassical-and-Relational-Contract-Law%E2%80%99.pdf

Mengoni, L. (1996). Ermeneutica e dogmatica giuridica: Saggi. Giuffrè.

Persiani, M. (1966). Contratto di lavoro e organizzazione. CEDAM.

Perulli, A. (1992). Il potere direttivo dell’imprenditore. Giuffrè.

Perulli, A. (2010). Subordination, autonomy, economically dependent (parasubordinate) work. In G. Casale (Ed.), The employment relationship: A comparative overview (pp. 137–188). International Labour Organization.

Perulli, A. (2017a). The theories of the firm between economy and law. In A. Perulli & T. Treu (Eds.), Enterprise and social rights (pp. 351–378). Wolters Kluwer.

Perulli, A. (2017b). Il lungo viaggio del lavoro autonomo dal diritto dei contratti al diritto del lavoro, e ritorno. Lavoro e diritto, 31(2), 251–282. https://doi.org/10.1441/87295

Perulli, A. (2022). A critique of self-employment. European Labour Law Journal, 13(2), 305–322. https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525221088604

Perulli, A. (2024). A new category within European Union law: Personal work. European Labour Law Journal, 15(1), 184–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/20319525231221225

Perulli, A. (Forthcoming). Company workforce, value chain workers, human rights. The new concept of worker in the European context of “sustainable reporting” and “due diligence.” Rivista Italiana Di Diritto Del Lavoro.

Perulli, A., & Treu, T. (2022). In tutte le sue forme e applicazioni. Giappichelli. https://www-giappichelli-it.webpkgcache.com/doc/ s/www.giappichelli.it/media/catalog/product/openaccess/9788892173811.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoqZme2kqX0BWJ_Cii2gQFWnkhWdMIQJdGw42cE15i-n7DsNGZOf

Peskine, E., & Wolmark, C. (2022). Droit du travail (12th ed.). Dalloz.

Redenti, E., & Caprioli, S. (1992). Massimario della giurisprudenza dei probiviri: Roma 1906. Giappichelli.

Ribeiro, A. T. (2024, March 18). An employment presumption for platform work: The Portuguese experience. Global Workplace Law & Policy. https://legalblogs.wolterskluwer.com/global-workplace-law-and-policy/an-employment-presumption-for-platform-work-the-portuguese-experience/

Robé, J.-P., Lyon-Caen, A., & Vernac, S. (Eds.). (2016). Multinationals and the constitutionalization of the world power system. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315596334

Rouast, A. (1954). Contrat de travail. In M. Planiol & G. Ripert (Eds.), Traité pratique de droit civil Français (2nd ed., Vol. 2). Librairie générale de droit et de jurisprudence, 873–875

Supiot, A. (1994). Critique du droit du travail (1st ed.). Presses Universitaires France.

Supiot, A. (2017). Governance by numbers: The making of a legal model of allegiance. Hart Publishing.

Tokeley, K. (2002). Trends in statutory interpretation and the judicial process. Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, 33(3–4), 965–980. https://doi.org/10.26686/vuwlr.v33i3-4.5809

Tomlins, C. L. (1993). Law, labor, and ideology in the early American republic. Cambridge University Press.

Treu, T. (2017). Workers participation in the firm: Trends and insights. In A. Perulli & T. Treu (Eds.), Enterprise and social rights (pp. 271–291). Wolters Kluwer.

Ure, A. (1835). The philosophy of manufactures. William Clowes and Sons. https://doi. org/10.4324/9780203041338

Veneziani, B. (1986). The evolution of the contract of employment. In B. Hepple (Ed.), The making of labour law in Europe: A comparative study of nine countries up to 1945 (pp. 31–72). Hart Publishing.

Waas, B. (2019). The legal definition of the employment contract in section 611a of the Civil Code in Germany: An important step or does everything remain the same? Italian Labour Law e-Journal Issue, 12(1), pp. 25–34. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1561-8048/9695

Waas, B., & van Voss, G. H. (Eds.). (2017). Restatement of labour law in Europe: The concept of employee (Vol. 1). Hart Publishing. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781509912438

Wank, R. (2023). Self-employment in Germany and Austria. Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Iuridica, 103, 121–164. https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.103.04

Weber, M. (1967). Law in economy and society (E. Shils & M. Rheinstein, Eds. & Trans.). Simon and Schuster. (Original work published 1925.)

Weiss, M. (2017). Workers’ participation in the enterprise in Germany. In A. Perulli & T. Treu (Eds.), Enterprise and social rights (pp. 293–310). Wolters Kluwer.

Williamson, O. E. (1985). The economic institutions of capitalism: Firms, markets, relational contracting. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership Historical Research Reference in Entrepreneurship. https://ssrn.com/ abstract=1496720

Witt, J. F. (2000). Rethinking the nineteenth-century employment contract, again. Law and History Review, 18(3), pp. 627–657. https://doi.org/10.2307/744072