Online Platforms and Platform Work Czechia Legally binding definition of online platforms Specific register of online platforms Specific regulation applicable to online platforms Online platforms are considered to be employers The Czech legal system does not recognise or define online platforms as specific subjects. Employment law specifically regulates the brokering of employment (435/2004 Coll., Art. 14a) and temporary agency work(435/2004 Coll., Art. 14b). Digital labour platforms involved in such activities are to be classified as employment agencies. +100 While there is a dearth of data on working conditions for platform workers, media reports suggest long hours and low hourly pay in the areas of fooddelivery and ride-share. There are also reports of Uber drivers, who are often migrant workers from outside of the EU, being recruited through intermediaries and working with informal arrangements involving low pay and excessive hours. Czech workers have access to more than 100 online labour platforms. 15,5% 84,5% Based on data from the ETUI Internet and Platform Work Survey, men working 20 hours or more per week or earning more than 50 per cent of their income through platforms account for 84.5% of platform workers in comparison to only 15.5% for women. Along with international platforms, such as Bolt, Uber and Uber Eats, there are also national platforms operating in the market. Hlidacky.cz operates childcare services. The platform was founded in 2012. Damejidlo.cz is a food-delivery platform founded in 2010. Doucuji.eu is a marketplace for private tutoring.

There has not been any attempt to organise platforms workers collectively by existing trade union organisations in Czechia. There are no associations representing platform workers. No cases relating to employment status are pending before the courts. The issue of tax obligations is relatively prominent in the policy debate. An analysis conducted by the government in 2017 identified corporate income tax avoidance as a problem, using Uber as an example of a company that uses sophisticated corporate structures and tax-shifting through licence fees to avoid paying taxes in the countries where it actually provides services and uses public infrastructure. There have been a series of court cases relating to the applicability of law regulating passenger transport(taxi) to Uber, producing a series of conflicting judgments and rulings, in effect allowing the company to operate in Prague, but not(necessarily) in other cities. A local court in Prague effectively lifted a ban on Uber by the city of Prague in 2016. A year later, however, the same court upheld a similar ban on Taxify. In the same year, a regional court found a ban on Uber by the city of Brno to be legal. Uber then won an appeal before a higher court, but this was overturned by the Constitutional Court in 2018. As a reaction to legal uncertainty, and presumably also in reaction to the ECJ ruling, Uber signed a memorandum with the Czech government in 2018. FES Competence Centre on the Future of Work – January, 2023 Background research conducted by Dr Jan Drahokoupil, European Labour Authority Graphic Design: Galadriel GV