COVID-19 and the Future of Work

Abstract

This Article draws upon law and behavioral economics to analyze the transition to remote work brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. While widely celebrated, this transition, which indeed has many promising aspects, is far more complex than public discourse would suggest. This Article is articulated around two overarching, structural issues which both arise from and are exemplified by the increasing adoption of remote work policies. Its first section depicts the move to remote work as an example and catalyst of the more broadly increasing precarity of work. It proposes solutions which could alleviate this increasing precarity. Its second section focusses on the intrinsically heterogeneous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and these remote work policies and proposes solutions which could alleviate the disproportionate impact of these policies on certain groups.

Keywords: COVID-19; remote work; law and economics; behavioral economics; labor; labor law; retirement; gig economy; taxation; globalization