Vitaldent dentists: labor or TRADE? A relative value solution

Regarding Supreme Court Ruling 33/2023, of 17 January

Abstract

The border between independent health professionals with an economically dependent self-employed contract and that of subordinate workers is becoming increasingly blurred, with the Supreme Court reaching the conclusion that, in the case of the provision of dental services for franchised clinics, the differentiation between one form of contracting or another will be determined by the specific circumstances. In the case under analysis, there is no employment contract, because we are dealing with the case of professional activity under a self-organization regime, assuming the risks of non-payment, paying the clinic an amount for the use of its facilities, with no fixed income or clientele minimum guaranteed by the franchisee (nor by the franchisor) and without prohibition to carry out the activity in other clinics.