Self-employment: Autonomy vs. Dependence | Agency Theory

The article analyzes the phenomenon of self-employment as a continuum stretching from full entrepreneurial autonomy to total economic dependence. The author deconstructs the category of sole proprietorship (JDG), dividing it into three types: entrepreneurial self-employment sensu stricto, economically dependent self-employment, and cases of sham self-employment which in reality meet the criteria of an employment relationship. Using the conceptual apparatus of Eddie Glaude Jr., the text draws attention to economic coercion and the differences between formal legal status and actual individual agency. A key point is the analysis of Article 22 of the Labor Code, which allows for a substantive assessment of B2B relations in order to protect persons performing work under conditions of subordination, regardless of the name of the contract concluded.