Os desafios à proteção dos direitos fundamentais dos trabalhadores nas plataformas digitais

Abstract

This dissertation aims to analyze the contemporary challenges to the protection of the fundamental rights of workers engaged in activities mediated by digital platforms, from the perspective of Constitutional Law and Labor Law. Starting from the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the growing digitalization of productive relations, the research examines the transformation of the classical concept of legal subordination and the emergence of the so-called algorithmic subordination, understood as a modern form of control and command exercised through automated management systems. The study is developed based on the hypothesis that platform work, although framed by the discourse of autonomy and technological innovation, reproduces and intensifies traditional employer power, establishing a relationship of economic and technical dependence equivalent to the subordination provided for in Article 3 of the Brazilian Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT). To demonstrate this hypothesis, the research methodology employed consists of a literature review, through a qualitative examination of specialized bibliography (including the analysis of scientific articles, theses, dissertations, monographs, and specialized legal doctrine). The research is classified as pure and qualitative, with descriptive and exploratory purposes. The analysis reveals that digital platforms use algorithms and reputation systems to manage performance, impose goals, and sanction behaviors, configuring an invisible and diffuse form of subordination that challenges traditional legal categories and intensifies the precarization of labor relations. It is also verified that the Brazilian normative framework proves insufficient to ensure the effectiveness of the fundamental rights of platform workers, and that the Judiciary has adopted divergent positions regarding the recognition of employment relationships. The decisions of the Superior Labor Court and the Federal Supreme Court reveal tensions between the valorization of human labor and the principle of free enterprise, contributing to the progressive erosion of the Labor Justice’s jurisdiction. In conclusion, the legal protection of digital labor requires a normative and institutional reconstruction guided by the constitutional principles of human dignity, the social value of labor, and solidarity, as well as the creation of a specific regulatory framework capable of harmonizing technological innovation with social justice.