4차 산업혁명 시대 일본의 노동법 동향 ― 플랫폼 노동자의 법적 지위와 보호를 중심으로 ―

The purpose of this study is to analyze the legal status of platform workers in Japan under labor law, focusing on precedents and theories, and to examine trends in theories, government policies, and legislation for the legal protection of platform workers. Japan uses a concept of employee as a concept to determine who is subject to the labor law, but in substance, it is divided into the concept of employee under the Labor Standards Act centered on ‘human dependence’ and the concept of employee under the Labor Union Act centered on ‘economic dependence’. In general, the latter is interpreted as a broader concept than the former. Therefore, even if platform workers are not recognized as employees under the Labor Standards Act, they can be judged to be employees under the Labor Union Act. An example is the November 2022 Tokyo Regional Labor Relations Commission order that recognized the nature of employees under the Labor Union Act for Uber Eats couriers. Unlike Europe and Korea, in Japan, there are no judgments that recognize the employee's nature under the Labor Standards Act. Looking at the criteria for judging the employee's nature under the Labor Standards Act formed by precedents, the factors to be considered in the judgment are somewhat complicated and the predictability of the judgment is low. In addition, the above judgment criteria were built on the basis of typical employment relations in the past industrial society. There is a limit to applying it as it is to platform work, which is subject to invisible technical control through algorithms. In the theory, an extended interpretation theory focused on economic dependence was presented, but in court practice, the conventional judgment criteria centered on human dependence remain unchanged. Therefore, a review of the concept of employees in response to changes in employment conditions such as digitization and platforming and a specific judgment of employee characteristics according to the actual condition of platform work are important tasks in Japan. Japan is not expanding the concept of employee as a legal response to protect platform workers, but rather preparing special regulations or protecting them by legal systems other than labor laws. Japan seems to have a cautious attitude toward the expansion of the concept of employee (comprehensive and uniform protection) in consideration of the side effects it can cause, such as the possibility of hindering the activation of various and flexible working methods. Instead, it chose a special regulatory method that provides the necessary protection for freelancers through new regulatory legislation (Freelancers Protection Act). In addition, the system was improved so that freelancers can purchase industrial accident insurance as protection under legal systems other than labor laws. However, in Japan, it can be said that the legal response to the protection of platform workers due to the expansion of digital platform work is lagging behind that of Anglo-American and European countries. In order to guarantee the labor rights of platform workers, more practical and binding legislation is needed. It is an important legislative policy task of Japan in the future to promote clarity of the judgment of employee and to prepare specific and faithful protection measures for those who do not correspond to employees.