What new labour codes bring for gig and platform workers

The Centre has decided to amalgamate various labour laws to form new codes that are proposing benefits, among other reforms, for all types of employees, including gig workers and platform workers.

Under the new codes, these workers will be covered under social security benefits like income security and health insurance.

For years, gig workers and platform workers, belonging to the unorganized sector of the labour force, were not officially defined by the government. These workers were not paid in salaries, thus stripping them of benefits like health insurance and Provident Fund.

The new codes provide definition to the gig workers — an employee who earns a living outside of a "traditional employer-employee relationship". This could be anybody, from a freelance writer to a car driver, who is temporarily associated with an employer for services.

Platform workers, on the other hand, according to the government, are those who work outside of a traditional work relationship and "use an online platform to access other organisations or individuals to solve specific problems or to provide specific services". It essentially covers all those workers who work with online platforms like Ola, Uber or Zomato, Swiggy, etc.

What is in store for gig and platform workers?

The Central government proposes to universalise benefits in health and maternity matters, life and disability cover, etc. The state government is supposed to ensure the workers' benefits like provident fund, skill upgradation, and housing.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also said that all types of workers would now come under the minimum wage rules and that Employees State Insurance Corporation, or the ESIC, will apply to all.

While the Modi government promises unprecedented benefits to the gig workers, the new reforms also enable flexibility to the companies to hire and fire employees without any stringent intervention from the government.

There is also no data available with the Centre on how many gig workers are currently operating in India, some independent estimates put the number near 130 million workers.

To avail of these proposed benefits, the government has proposed to set up an online portal by June 2021 for all the eligible unorganised workforce in the country. The gig and platform workers will mandatorily register on the portal. The eligibility criteria include: that the worker is above the age of 16 and below 60. They have at least worked 90 days in the previous 12 years.

He or she is directed to submit self-declaration electronically or otherwise and other documents including the Aadhaar card. The central government may also nominate five representatives of gig and platform workers to the National Social Security Board, which will frame policies covering the unorganised sector.

In addition, the codes mandate the aggregators, or the employers in the case of gig workers, to contribute a specified percentage of the turnover towards a social security fund for the welfare of the unorganised sector.