It Takes Three to Tango: Labour Law, Data Protection, and Collective Voice for the Regulation of New Technologies in the Workplace

The prospect of algorithmic management of workers poses a risk to their dignity, freedom, health and safety and privacy. In their responses to this changed context, German, Italian, and Spanish labour regulators have taken different approaches. This article compares each jurisdiction’s approach to regulation by considering their distinctive features, functions, and objectives. The article goes on to consider the degree to which each jurisdiction’s approach to technological innovation in the workplace is a product of path-dependency, i.e., the extent to which responses to historical technological innovations in the workplace and established conceptions of the exercise of managerial prerogatives through technologies are predictive of their current responses to the introduction of algorithmic management technologies.