Self-employed or employees? An examination of working conditions at the digital platform Rappi

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the working conditions of Rappi's delivery workers at a national level by investigating the legal nature of the service provided by the deliverers of the platform. The paper examines 102 interviews with workers collected during the PIBIC project at UFBA, about working conditions on the Rappi platform. In order to carry out such an examination, this paper presents a theoretical background on the platformization of work, which will serve as a basis for the analysis of the observed reality. Based on that, it investigates the contradictions found between the platform's terms of use and the delivery drivers' reports about their work. In this way, the paper conducts a study of Rappi as a digital platform, analyzes the terms of use and the platform's operation, presents the data from the empirical research and, lastly, analyzes the labor regulation framework that better suits the delivery drivers. The partial results of these interviews indicates that the majority profile of the delivery drivers corresponds to the courier who works more than 44 (forty-four) hours a week, earns approximately two minimum wages/hour, does not calculate deductions of costs for the development of the activity, has suffered some kind of blocking or punishment and recognizes that there is control by the platform, but does not consider himself an employee.