legally they operate as entrepreneurs providing services for customers sourced through a website.
This exempts them from many of the worker protections.
However, at least in Belgium this kind of micro-entrepreneurship is actively discouraged.
Contractors require an accounting-certificate or academic degree in order to setup a company (or sole tradership).
Skipping the basic step of registering as a company can leave you or the customer liable to all sorts of fines, depending if a court thinks the customer or the worker is at fault. The issue is sensitive because it involves manual labour, and there is a huge incentive to utilize black labour as labour costs are very high.
This renders a service like TaskRabbit a legal hazard for customers and workers, but the service itself can operate legally.
However, at least in Belgium this kind of micro-entrepreneurship is actively discouraged. Contractors require an accounting-certificate or academic degree in order to setup a company (or sole tradership).
Skipping the basic step of registering as a company can leave you or the customer liable to all sorts of fines, depending if a court thinks the customer or the worker is at fault. The issue is sensitive because it involves manual labour, and there is a huge incentive to utilize black labour as labour costs are very high.
This renders a service like TaskRabbit a legal hazard for customers and workers, but the service itself can operate legally.