A new bill aims to establish a new national legal framework in Luxembourg to regulate the employment relationships of individuals who provide services or work via platforms when their usual place of work is in Luxembourg. Bill no. 8001 was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies on 4 May 2022.

The main new provisions introduced by the Bill are set out below.

This new law is intended to apply to employment relationships involving individuals who provide services or work via a digital platform and who are regarded as employees of the digital platform within the meaning of the new national provisions when their usual place of work, or virtual place of work, is in Luxembourg.

The Bill provides the following definitions:

The person providing a service or work via a platform is ‘a natural person who provides a service/work for the benefit of another natural or legal person, called the beneficiary, via a platform’.

Platform refers to ‘any natural or legal person who organises services/work for its own benefit or for the benefit of other natural or legal persons called the beneficiary(ies) and who connects a person providing a service/work through it with the beneficiary using a digital shop window or any other electronic means and who is the potential employer of the person providing a service/work’.

The notion of a virtual workplace means ‘the place where the service is received by the beneficiary of the service/work carried out by the person providing a service/work via a platform, without the person providing a service/work via a platform having travelled to the country where the service is received’.

The Bill sets out criteria for determining whether a job is carried out via a platform and creates a presumption of the existence of an employment contract as soon as one or more of the criteria set out is fulfilled. This presumption can be overturned by the platform if it can be demonstrated that there is no employment contract.

Nevertheless, when at least three of the criteria set out are fulfilled, there will be an employment contract within the meaning of article L.121-1 of the Labour Code is established; evidence to the contrary is not admissible.

The criteria set out in the Bill are as follows:

• ‘The platform advertises itself on the market by offering the service(s) or work’.
• ‘The platform defines the conditions for (the person providing or being willing to provide the service/work) accessing the services/work offered and ordered through it by the beneficiary(ies)’.
• ‘The platform defines the conditions and/or limits for the remuneration for the services/work’.
• ‘The platform receives the payment for the service/work that is to be delivered or has been delivered by the person providing or willing to provide a service/work through it’.
• ‘The platform controls the quality of the work/service provided by the person providing or willing to provide a service/work through a platform’.
• ‘The platform issues a classification for the people providing or willing to provide a service/work through it’.
• ‘The platform is responsible for the interaction between the beneficiary and the person providing or willing to provide a service/work through it’.
• ‘The platform may decide to exclude the person providing or willing to provide a service/work through it and no longer grant him/her access to the platform’.

The existence of an employment contract between the platform and the person providing a service or work results in the application of the legal framework for employees (with an adjustment to the particular working conditions of the person providing the service/work).  This includes the right to sick leave and to annual leave, minimum wage and limits on working hours.