JUDICIAL DETERMINATION AND INSTITUTIONAL RECONSTRUCTION OF SUBORDINATION IN PLATFORM EMPLOYMENT: CENTERED ON THE ADJUDICATIVE LOGIC OF “LOOK-THROUGH REVIEW”

Abstract

In platform employment, enterprises leverage algorithmic control alongside contractual arrangements—such as service agreements and registration as sole proprietors—to create a paradigm of "strong managerial control and weak legal ties." In response, judicial practice has spontaneously developed an adjudicative logic of "look-through review," drawing on the corporate law doctrine of "piercing the corporate veil" and the financial regulatory principle of "substance over form." This logic requires adjudicators to set aside commercial formalities and directly examine the true intensity of personal, economic, and organizational subordination. However, case-by-case look-through review cannot overcome the fragmentation of adjudicative standards or the "all-or-nothing" dilemma of binary protection. It is therefore necessary to introduce "employee-like persons" as a third-category legal subject, defined by the core elements of personal performance of work and significant economic reliance on the platform. Guided by the principle of proportionality, a graduated protection system should be established: mandatory occupational injury coverage for all platform workers; limited collective bargaining rights and a minimum income guarantee for employee-like persons; and full labor law protection only for those exhibiting strong personal subordination. This framework seeks a dynamic balance between safeguarding workers' rights and ensuring the sustainable development of the platform economy.