Unpacking the legal status of platform workers in China: an empirical analysis of judicial attitudes and challenges in the food delivery sector

The platform economy has generated new business models and employment types, posing new challenges to China’s labour law and social security law. This article collects 324 cases between 2017 and 2020 in which Chinese courts need to determine the employment status of food delivery riders as platform workers. This paper focuses on whether ‘special delivery riders’ under the agent model and ‘crowdsourced riders’ under the crowdsourcing model are identified as employees in these cases and analyse relevant factors considered by judges when they make decisions. More than half of the Chinese judges hold that special delivery riders are employees of agents, while crowdsourced riders are barely found as employees; most judges are reluctant to deem platforms as the liable employers. In general, the algorithm-based management, business organization, and relevant agreements etc. deployed by food delivery platforms may make them free from employer obligations and liabilities, and policymakers often have a tolerant and positive attitude towards the platform employment. Relevant latest policies show the government’s willingness to give platform workers more protection, and the SPC Stable Employment Opinions has specified the criteria for identifying employment relationship in the platform employment. Nevertheless, it takes time to see how they will be implemented.