Why Is It Important to Take Legal Measures for the Work of Digital Platforms in?Albania?

by Inva Ko?iaj ?ela, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Tirana

The development of digital labour platforms has gained significant importance in Albania in recent years. Many factors have influenced the spread of digital platforms, including technological advancement, digitalization, and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. In Albania, particularly in its capital Tirana, several types of platforms have become prominent, such as delivery platforms, freelancing platforms, and ride-hailing services. Their growth has certainly created employment opportunities for specific categories of workers. Nonetheless, their growth simultaneously contributes to the rise of false self-employment in the economy, raising concerns about job stability, fair wages, and social protection for workers. In a context where traditional labour regulations may not fully cover digital platform work, addressing these challenges is crucial to ensuring sustainable growth and fair working conditions in Albania’s (digital) labour market.

Albanian Labour Regulation: Fit for Emerging Platform Work?

One can argue that Albania is unprepared to regulate labour relations created on digital labour platforms. Its legislation on labour rights, specifically the Labour Code, has only one provision referring to technology deployment in the workplace. Article 15 of the Labour Code defines telework, as the work that the employee performs at home or in another place, determined in agreement with the employer, using information technology, within working hours, determined by the employee, according to the conditions agreed between them in the employment contract. However, following the interpretation of the legal provision, this article has not provided any regulation for working time, vacations, official holidays, hours outside the schedule, etc., including all these protections for those workers outside the employment relations such as platform workers. Workers on digital platforms are not qualified as employees, but as independent or self-employed workers, and as such they do not enter into employment contracts nor are entitled to any of the above-mentioned rights and protections. Law №7703, dated May 11, 1993, “On Social Insurance in the Republic of Albania,” stipulates that social protection is closely linked to the traditional employment relationship. Therefore, one must have the legal status of an employee to enjoy the rights to a minimum wage, social insurance, health insurance, unemployment benefits, etc. In the case of workers on digital platforms, they are classified as self-employed, and for this reason, they are excluded from social protection.

Voice of Unprotected Platform Workers: Lessons from the First Collective Action

In September 2024, for the first time in Tirana, a several-day protest was carried out by the workers of the delivery platform Wolt. The workers were against the fee reduction for the provided services. Although the request was clear from the beginning, the protest presented several challenges that hindered achieving any concrete results. First, there was a lack of effective coordination among delivery platform workers, who are often scattered and uncertain about their rights. Secondly, many view platform work as a temporary and self-employed opportunity, making it more difficult to mobilize them for collective demands. Furthermore, the lack of in-depth knowledge about the legislation regulating their status and social benefits led to significant uncertainty among workers, struggling to understand how they can access social protection. Eventually, the protest lacked support from trade unions and social organizations, resulting in it being unorganized and without a clear, unified message.

Strengthening Albanian Labour Protection: Lessons from the EU

Recently, the European Commission and European Parliament have approved Directive 2022/0414 (COD), which aims to regulate digital labour platforms by improving working conditions, protecting platform workers’ data, and clarifying employment status. This is a big step not only for Member States to make it part of their internal legislation, but it will also serve as a guide for candidate countries, such as the case of Albania, to mobilize interest groups to take appropriate measures to guarantee a safe work environment for workers of digital platforms. It is time for Albania to take concrete steps to ensure the rights at work for this category of vulnerable workers and to take concrete measures to regulate this new sector of the economy.

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