Flexibility, choice, and labour law: The challenge of on-demand platforms.

The article focuses on the legal and labor implications of platform-based "work on demand," particularly examining whether workers for platforms like Uber should be compensated for all time spent logged into the app and available to work. It highlights a growing judicial consensus that such platform workers are employees rather than independent contractors, which shifts legal disputes from employment status to questions about working time and compensation for on-call periods. The authors argue that current labor laws require payment for on-call time, which challenges the viability of the flexible on-demand model that allows workers to log in at will without guaranteed hours. While rejecting individual waivers of on-call compensation rights due to risks of coercion and harm to vulnerable workers, the article proposes intermediate solutions, including partial payment for on-call time, exemptions for workers with other full-time jobs, and allowing unions to negotiate waivers collectively, aiming to balance flexibility and worker protections within evolving labor frameworks.