On the Code on Social Security for platform-based gig workers

Source– The post is based on the article “On the Code on Social Security for platform-based gig workers” published in “The Hindu” on 26th April 2023.

Syllabus: GS3- Employment

Relevance: Issues related to gig economy workers

News- The Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan government has recently announced the Rajasthan Platform-based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill, 2023.

What are legal issues related to gig-economy workers?

Definition of employee– The three new labour codes passed by Parliament recently acknowledge platform and gig workers as new occupational categories. But the current laws do not see them as future industrial workers.

Working in factories, the duration of time needed on a factory floor, and associated issues are recognized as the parameters for defining an ideal worker under most labour laws. This has not shifted much.

The Code on Wages, 2019, tries to expand this idea by using ‘wages’ as the primary definition of ‘employee’. Wage relationships are an important part of the informal economy.

Legal guarantees-Platform delivery people can claim benefits, but not labour rights. This distinction makes them beneficiaries of State programs. This does not allow them to go to court to demand better and stable pay, or better regulations

This also means that the government or courts cannot pull up platform companies for their choice of pay, or duration of work.

In the Code on Social Security, 2020, platform workers are now eligible for benefits like maternity benefits, life and disability cover, old age protection, provident fund, employment injury benefits.

However, eligibility does not mean that the benefits are guaranteed. None of these are secure benefits. These benefits will depend on the political will at the Central and State government levels and how unions elicit political support.