중국 플랫폼 종사자의 법적 보호 현황과 개선방안에 대한 소고 — 12호 문건을 중심으로 —

The rapid development of China's online platform economy has led to a substantial increase in the number of platform workers, posing a severe challenge to China's traditional labor law framework, especially in the identification of labor relations between platforms and workers. The current legal standards, represented by Document No. 12, are rooted in the traditional employment model and are difficult to adapt to the characteristics of diversity and flexibility of platform work. At present, when Chinese courts identify platform labor relations, they still mainly rely on legal standards represented by “Document No. 12”. This standard, which is rooted in the traditional employment model, is difficult to adapt to the actual needs of diversity and flexibility of platform work. Through a comparative analysis of typical cases in the identification of platform labor relations in China and South Korea, this paper puts forward the shortcomings of China's current platform labor relationship identification mechanism and proposes specific countermeasures to improve the protection of platform workers' rights and interests. Through comparative legal analysis, this study finds that China relies on Document No. 12, which strictly requires the coexistence of individual, organizational, and economic affiliations, resulting in a narrow scope for the recognition of labor relations between platforms and workers. This difficulty is exacerbated for those engaged in multi-platform work, and the evidentiary rules under this document are ill-suited for the digitalized nature of platform work. In contrast, South Korea demonstrates evolving legislative efforts, such as the “labor/service provider” concept for social insurance, and recent Supreme Court precedents that increasingly recognize employee status by emphasizing substantive judgment over contractual formalities and considering platform-specific control mechanisms like algorithmic management. To enhance the legal protection of platform workers in China, this thesis proposes three key reforms. First, Drawing on South Korean case law, a more holistic “substantive judgment” approach is adopted to broaden the standards for determining labor relations for platform workers.Second, it suggests establishing flexible recognition criteria specifically for (multi-)platform workers, acknowledging algorithmic control as an indicator of personal subordination and real economic dependency as crucial for economic/organizational subordination. Third, it calls for broadening the scope of admissible evidence under China's Document No. 12 to explicitly include digital evidence pertinent to platform operations. The implementation of these measures is expected to promote China to more reasonably identify the labor relationship between platforms and workers, thereby strengthening their rights and promoting the sustainable development of the platform economy.