Case brief

    In June 2021, Ye registered as a maintenance engineer on the A maintenance APP operated by Company A, and signed the "Engineer Cooperation Agreement" and "Cooperation Agreement" with Company A, agreeing that Company A would provide information technology services for Ye, and both parties jointly entrusted a third party to collect the household maintenance service fees paid by the customer. Ye agreed to pay the information technology service fee to Company A at 35% -55% of the total household maintenance service fees paid by the user.

    In June 2022, after receiving an order to repair the air conditioner, Ye took the tools purchased by himself and rode an electric car to repair. On the road, he fell and fell due to rain and was injured. He was sent to the hospital by ambulance for treatment, resulting in medical expenses of more than 23,000 yuan. Ye's follow-up treatment costs still need 15,000 yuan.

    Since Company A purchased commercial group insurance for Ye, the medical expenses paid by Ye 19,000 more than yuan. However, Ye claimed that he formed a labor contract relationship with Company A, and the rest of the losses should be compensated by Company A. Therefore, he sued the court on the grounds of dispute over the right to health, demanding that Company A pay him medical expenses, missed work expenses, nursing expenses, follow-up treatment expenses and other expenses

court hearing

    In this case, Ye was injured due to slipping and falling on his own bicycle, and there is no evidence to prove that Company A was at fault or directly infringed in the process. Ye claimed that he had a labor relationship with Company A, so the other party should bear the liability for compensation for the injury on the way to work. The essence is to require Company A to bear no-fault liability based on the labor contract relationship. However, the "Cooperation Agreement" signed by both parties clearly stipulates that the two parties are a cooperative relationship, not a labor or labor relationship.

    During the trial, Ye claimed that he did not read the text of the agreement carefully and did not know the content of the agreement. In this regard, Ye, as a person with full capacity for civil conduct, should bear the corresponding legal consequences for his own civil actions. In this case, Company A informed and reminded Ye of the relevant rights and obligations in the form of black and bold characters in the "Cooperation Agreement". Ye chose to ignore it on his own, which was Ye's negligence of his own rights, and he should bear the adverse consequences on his own.

    From the actual performance of the agreement, although Yemou provides air-conditioning maintenance services through the APP operated by Company A, its working hours, order selection, and maintenance tools are all under its own control. The compensation does not come from the direct payment of Company A, but is extracted from the service fee paid by the customer according to the agreement. Although Yemou may accept certain management in the process of providing services, this management is based on the operation needs of the cooperation platform and is very loose. It is not a management and management relationship in the sense of labor law or labor contract. Therefore, Yemou and Company A do not belong to a labor relationship or labor relationship, and Company A does not assume the responsibility of the employer or the employer for Yemou's work injury. In summary, the court rejected all of Ye's claims. The judgment has come into effect.

Judge's statement

    Nowadays, the Internet platform economy is developing rapidly, and a large number of laborers rely on the platform to receive orders, provide services to customers and obtain compensation. However, in practice, the nature of the legal relationship between laborers and platforms is complex and diverse, covering various types such as labor relations, labor relations, contract relations and intermediary relations. When the court hears such cases involving Internet employment, it is necessary to comprehensively and carefully review the contents of the contract signed by both parties and the actual performance. At the same time, it fully considers the unique attributes of the Internet employment model, so as to accurately determine the legal relationship between the two parties.

    The core dispute focus of this case is whether the original defendants established a labor relationship. A labor relationship refers to an equal civil subject, based on one party providing labor services for the other party, and the other party accepting the labor service and paying the corresponding consideration. When judging whether a labor relationship is established, the key point is to examine whether the receiving party has a control relationship over the providing party. Although this control relationship is different from a specific personal affiliation relationship in a labor relationship, the providing party is still under the control of the receiving party to a certain extent, and needs to follow the arrangement and command of the receiving party to complete the agreed work tasks. In this case, Ye received orders through the platform operated by Company A, but his working hours, order selection, and maintenance tools used were all determined by him independently, and his compensation came from the service fees paid by customers after the transaction was completed. The management measures implemented by the platform company on employees are mainly based on the objective needs of platform operation and management, rather than substantive control over labor providers. Therefore, judging from various factors, the relationship between the two parties does not conform to the characteristics of labor relations.

    When workers sign relevant agreements with Internet platform companies, they must carefully study the terms of the contract, fully understand the risks it may contain, and after careful and rational consideration, decide whether to sign the agreement to effectively safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

    This article is transferred from the "Shandong High Law" WeChat official account, thank you here!