Inside Spain’s failed plan to fix the gig economy

On 12 August 2021, Spain became the first European country to significantly regulate the gig economy. The Supreme Court, ruling in favour of a former gig economy rider, declared that riders were not self-employed workers, as they had been categorised, but rather employees. As well as requiring the delivery companies to directly hire all their riders, the law forced them to be transparent about how the app’s algorithms affected working conditions and hiring and firing decisions. However, a half year after the rider’s law came into force, Rodríguez continues to work as self-employed. In fact, most delivery companies in Spain, instead of implementing the law, have worked hard to subvert it, ignore it or, in the case of Deliveroo, leave Spain entirely.