Since the emergence of labor law, researchers have debated how the future of work will evolve with each technological development. They handle which skills will become redundant and which will become indispensable, and most importantly, whether the working conditions of workers will evolve for the better or for the worse. New inventions, different production methods, and changes in the organizational structures of enterprises have each time pushed labor lawyers to seek answers to these questions.

Today, one of the developments in the field of labor law that has caused discussion is digital platform labor relations. The search for whether platform workers are employees necessitates the reinterpretation of employment contracts in light of economic and technological developments. This book examines the legal status, rights, and obligations of employees in terms of labor and social security law. In addition, the book includes suggestions for the legalization of digital platform-based labor relations under Turkish law.

Tolu Yılmaz’s book, published in early 2023, discusses the platform economy and platform-based work. Tolu Yılmaz first describes what platform economy and digital platform-based work are and then handles a basic question. Are platform workers self-employed or employees? She shows instances of court orders from the EU and the USA and gives all these examples to open a new debate on the legal status of digital platform workers in Turkey. Moreover, Tolu Yılmaz investigates the digital platform-based work relationship in Turkish law.

According to Tolu Yılmaz, although most platform workers are classified as self-employed, they work as employees for platforms. Platforms dictate fixed working hours to employees and monitor them with digital surveillance techniques. They make workers dependent on them for income.

This important book is the only study on platform workers’ legal status in Turkey. For this reason, it plays an important role in the introduction to platform work in Turkey.