Tasks and Responsibilities of an Employer in a Digital Age: How to Comply with the Applicable Requirements for Work Conditions

Abstract

New forms of employment are not in line with the assumptions or terms of the labour-law rules that are in force today. In these cases, the employer has to employ different protection mechanisms in practice. If the necessary protection is to be guaranteed, there is still a need to follow work- and rest-time rules, occupational health and safety rules, etc., yet all those obligations are connected to the workplace. Because new forms of employment, however, are usually not connected to a concrete workplace, applying all of the necessary protection mechanisms is growing more complicated, particularly when the laws and regulation are out of step with technological and other development of society.

In addition, difficulties arise in connection with assessment of the quality of the work done. The article examines these issues, the roles of the employer and employee in emergent forms of work, and mechanisms that represent possibilities for the future.