Robots, New Technology, and Industry 4.0 in Changing Workplaces

Abstract

The very issues created by corporate restructuring and changing workplace environments, with their infusion of new technology, also create emerging employment law issues in regulating the changes and in addressing the challenges in evaluating performance. The workplace environment significantly affects an employee’s work product, both in quality and efficiency. Industry 4.0 is a global trend taking place outside traditional employment structures because traditional employment has higher wage costs. Familiar legal issues may arise, though perhaps with unfamiliar applications. Not all jobs fall under the changing labor market conditions and for those cases, traditional evaluations that measure and evaluate productivity and performance may be aided by electronic technology. But for those many workers, now and in the future, working in a changing or alternative work environment (at home, in a different city, or overseas), or in an ambiguous or “joint employment” relationship, questions regarding the legal application of contractual wages and statutory benefits, safety and health requirements, workers compensation, and especially anti-discrimination laws arising from these performance evaluations may create novel situations in still-developing areas of law and legal solutions. This Article addresses the employment law implications of evaluating workers in the changing labor market, especially regarding the market’s workplace environments and uses of technology.