What does Karnataka’s new Bill for platform-based gig workers entail?
A critical appraisal and some suggestions on the Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2023.
Dr K R Shyam Sundar
Published on: 30 January 2025, 02:10 pm
THE Union government rationalised multiple labour laws into four codes, viz. the Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code and the Code on Social Security during 2019–20.
One of the unique features of the Code on Social Security is that it includes “gig workers” for the first time in a labour law, though this inclusion comes with its own problems (which we shall see later). The government “may” (not ‘shall’, which is missing from the commentaries on the code) from time to time frame schemes relating to life and health, old age protection, etc. of gig workers, the code provides.
Apart from Union and state governments, aggregators are expected to pay 1–2 percent of their annual turnover with a cap of 5 percent for this purpose. It is not a social insurance project as the workers do not pay a penny towards the social security fund. Though laudable for some reasons, the code has not seen the light of the day even though five–six years have passed.
In the case of the other codes, several state governments have implemented some of the provisions such as extending the threshold from 100 to 300 workers for hire-and-fire (Industrial Relations Code); from 20 to 50 for applications relating to contract workers (Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code); from 10 with power to 20, and 20 without power to 40 under the Factories Act, 1948 (Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code).
One of the unique features of the Code on Social Security is that it includes “gig workers” for the first time in a labour law, though this inclusion comes with its own problems.
Thus, some of the major employers’ labour flexibility demands have been addressed even though the codes carrying these amendments remain in cold storage. It is only the Code on Social Security that remains unimplemented at any level save a few exceptions.
Another reason for the emergence of state-level laws on social security is the confusion the Union government causes. A recent news item in the Times of India reported that aggregator platforms will be asked to deduct a certain percentage of workers’ wages and deposit the same with the Employees’ Pension Scheme and the government would top it up with 3–4 percent contribution of the deposit made by the platforms.
