Deconstructing the Legal Fiction of 'Non-Employees' in Employment Relationships in Indonesia's Non-Profit Sector

Abstract: The phenomenon of employment relations in the non-profit sector, particularly within foundations as legal entities, presents a paradox between social orientation and the fulfillment of labor rights. In practice, many foundations use the term “non-worker” or “volunteer” to avoid the obligation to provide minimum wages as stipulated in Article 88C of Law Number 6 of 2023 concerning the Enactment of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 2 of 2022 on Job Creation into Law. This practice reflects a consciously constructed legal fiction formed through the normative gap between Law Number 13 of 2003 on Manpower and Law Number 16 of 2001 on Foundations as amended by Law Number 28 of 2004. This research aims to deconstruct the juridical strategies that enable the avoidance of minimum wage obligations in the non-profit sector and to assess the substantive justice of the prevailing legal system. The study employs a normative legal method with three approaches: statutory, conceptual, and deconstructive. Analysis was conducted on 27 Industrial Relations Court (PHI) decisions from 2020–2024 to trace the application patterns of the “non-worker” legal fiction. The results show that the legal fiction serves as a legal mechanism that normalizes the exclusion of non-profit workers from minimum wage protection. Through a deconstructive reading of legal texts and court decisions, it was found that the formalistic rationality of labor law fails to recognize the substantive employment relationships within social institutions. Therefore, this study recommends redefining the terminology of “worker” and “employer” in labor law and formulating special regulations on employment relations in the non-profit sector to realize social justice and the substantive protection of wage rights.