Digital platform work and legal status of platform workers

This thesis aims to examine the legal status of people working through digital platforms in terms of labour law. The rapidly developing platform economy has popularized flexible and digitalized labor relations in recent years which are not in harmony with current labor law norms. The uncertainty about whether platform workers should be accepted independent workers or employees is at the center of legal and academic debates at both national and international fields. In the study, court decisions and legal regulations from different countries were examined and how this new form of work is compatible with current legal norms was investigated. A survey was conducted with couriers and drivers working on various digital platforms operating in our country, thus analyzing elements such as the nature of the relationship between the platform and employees, the way of doing business, the level of dependency and the control power and inferences were made about the legal status of employees based on empirical data. As a result, the legal insecurity problems experienced by platform employees were addressed and solution proposals were presented for what a more comprehensive protection system could be.