The development of platform employment and the introduction of algorithmic management lead to the destruction of the traditional legal status of the worker. Platforms position themselves as information intermediaries, classifying performers as independent contractors, which causes mass precarization of labor, deprivation of social guarantees, and a legal vacuum in protecting citizens' rights. Theoretical and legal analysis of the transformation of the status of platform employment subjects and the development of conceptual recommendations for modernizing the labor legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, taking into account the best practices of the European Union. The study applied a comprehensive methodological approach, including dialectical, systemic, formal-legal, and comparative-legal methods. The empirical base consisted of international acts, including EU Directive 2024/2831, ILO, and UN documents. It has been proven that the civil law model of regulating platform employment prevailing in Kazakhstan does not reflect the power asymmetry of relations and legalizes fictitious selfemployment. It has been established that algorithmic management is a new form of hidden employer control. The critical need to abandon the rigid "worker-independent contractor" dichotomy is substantiated. The implementation of the European model into the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan is proposed: the legislative consolidation of a rebuttable presumption of an employment relationship for platform workers and the introduction of strict norms of algorithmic transparency. These measures will ensure a balance between digital innovations and the protection of the right to decent work.