Platform work and the notion of ‘employee’ under the German legal System: possible consequences at a systematic level

An obligation to follow instructions, which is characteristic of an employment relationship, could also result from a detailed legal arrangement or the implementation of the contract which severely restricts the freedom of the worker to organise and provide the owed service. In particular, the actual constraints due to an organisational structure created by the employer could also be suitable to induce the employee to behave as desired without the employer issuing concrete and direct instructions.