RANSFORMATION OF LEGAL PROTECTION FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS IN THE DIGITAL ERA: LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY OF DOMESTIC SERVICE DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS TOWARDS EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS

Abstract

Digital transformation has given rise to a new employment relationship model through app-based domestic service platforms that connect domestic workers with service users online. This development presents legal challenges related to employment status, division of responsibilities, and forms of legal protection for domestic workers, who traditionally operate in the informal sector with minimal regulation. This study aims to analyze the construction of the legal relationship between domestic workers, digital platforms, and employers, and to formulate a model of platform legal accountability from the perspective of labor law and human rights protection. This study uses a normative juridical method with statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches. Legal materials are analyzed qualitatively to identify normative gaps and regulatory disharmony within the national labor law system. The results show that platform business models tend to position themselves as intermediaries rather than employers, thus avoiding employment responsibilities such as social security, decent wages, working hours, and protection from unilateral termination of employment. This situation creates ambiguity in the legal status of domestic workers in the digital ecosystem and has the potential to increase vulnerability to technology-based exploitation. Therefore, a reconstruction of legal norms is needed that emphasize the concept of control-based employment relationships and economic dependency (economic dependency test), as well as specific regulations regarding joint liability between platforms and service users. This research offers a model for transforming legal protection that is adaptive to the digital economy by positioning domestic workers as subjects of employment relationships entitled to equal employment protection standards.