Article 25: An unfinished task: The Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers

Vol. I, Issue I (2026) · Article 25 · Track: Employment Rights & Social Security

An unfinished task: The Karnataka Platform Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2024

Anshika Kaushik

Abstract. The 21st century has seen developments in the work style of organizations and employees, ranging from strong labor laws after the fallouts of First Industrial Revolution to allowing hybrid working systems during the pandemic. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has seen technological advancements making the workforce more automated and flexible. Among these developments was the need for workers to work at their own comfort whenever, wherever, this is exactly what the gig economy promises to its workers. While ensuring the independence of their work, Gig workers equally face the socio-economic precarities. In this backdrop, Karnataka government became the second government (after Rajasthan) to introduce the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare), Bill 2024 to ensure social security to one of the largest unorganized sector in the state. Tabled by the Labour Department of the state, it aims to protect the rights of platform based gig workers whilst imposing obligations on the aggregators. The bill too envisions the relationship between the worker and the aggregator as one outside the scope of the traditional employee-employer relationship. It affixes criminal liability for officers and directors deterring them from doing business in the state. The G20 summit in India was the recent occasion where international organizations ILO, ISSA and OECD submitted the paper specifying sustainable social protection for workers in the gig and platform economy. The Karnataka Bill, however, with its many groundbreaking measures to provide for social welfare benefits fails to address basic needs like minimum wage, regulation of working hours, trade unions and most importantly the hire and fire practice that is common with the platforms and workers. This paper aims to analyse the Karnataka Bill in line with the internationally recognized principles regarding the topic. It also seeks to present the implementation tools like dedicated government bodies and regular audits are some that the author suggests for better enforcement of the legislation.

LITERATURE REVIEW

NITI Aayog (2022), in their report “India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy” have assessed the growth of gig economy and the growing engagement of million of gig workers in India. It is estimated that in 2020-21, 77 lakh (7.7 million) workers were engaged in the gig economy and is expected to grow to 2.35 crore (23.5 million) workers by 2029-2030. The report has highlighted various perspectives and recommendations in the engagement of gig-platform workers in India.

ILO, (1952) The Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) is the flagship convention regarding social security. It has established major nine branches of social security that must be ensured to workers in the world. Though India has not ratified this convention, it serves as a standard to any national agenda regarding regulatory framework for workers- unorganised or organised.

ILO, ISSA and OECD (2023), in their working paper, “Providing adequate and sustainable social protection for workers in the gig and platform economy” have explored the importance of social security in the form of policy framework that serves as a guiding tool for this paper. It establishes some key aspects of ensuring social security to the gig workers.

ILO, (2024), in the report “Expansion of the Gig and Platform Economy in India” has given details to emerging relationship

Aditi Mishra and Suyog Ghosh Dasttidar, (2023), in their research paper titled “Navigating the Challenges of the Gig Economy: A Legal Analysis of Protection to Gig Workers in India and Overseas” have highlighted the specific needs and challenges faced by gig workers in light of recent developments like the national social security code proposed. The paper establishes the argument that these workers are subjected to unfair treatment due to their lack of legal recognition and hence must be brought into the umbrella of social security considering they are one of the key drivers of the Indian economy.

Karan Sangani, (2020), in the research paper titled, “Reconceptualising Labour Regulations for Workers in the Gig Economy” has used case studies of Ola and Uber to validate the proposition that by giving these workers the correct employment status would makes it easier to frame the regulatory framework of the gig economy.

INTRODUCTION

Various recent phenomena has contributed to the development of the gig economy including growth of part time employment and service sector jobs combined with regulatory developments in the labour and product market[1]. Typically it involves intermediaries who are responsible for delivery from retail stores, food delivery and accommodation and travel service. Gig economy is the characteristic feature of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with reports suggesting that gig work now constitutes for about 4.4 to 12.5 precent of the global labour force[2]. This has opened debates as to its regulation and the protection of these unorganised workers. While enjoyingself employment the gig workers suffer from many drawbacks of minimal social protection, for instance the concept of minimum wages do not typically apply to them. Hence the plight is such that they face similar issues to informal employement like instability, unemployment within a formal employment structure since they are bound by contractual obligations with the platform[3].

I- GIG WORKERS AND THEIR PRECARITY

Gig work is often characterised by workers who are employed for a specific time and provide services or product on short-term basis to clients may or may not be on a contractual basis. It may include high skilled workers like software developers, graphic design, content creation or low skilled work liked food-delivery workers, drivers or cleaning service individuals. Gig workers are synonymous to independent contractors, platform based workers, need-based call workers and temporary workers.

To summarise the model of the gig economy- typically a platform providing services or products to its user connects the freelancing individual or the independent contractor who would engage in that specific assignment or task called as “gig”. Hence the platform is the bridge to the gigers and the gig needed by its users. While they enter into contract with the platforms for providing services and acting as the intermediary, they are far from getting the benefits of a formal employment setup. They also suffer from harsh hire and fire policy of the companies. And since their relationship has been seen to be outside of a traditional employer- employee relationship, they remain deprived of the employee benefits like pensions and gratuities.

II- SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security has been clearly defined as a basic human right by various ILO Conventions and UN instruments although a small proportion of the world enjoys the benefits under it. Hence it first needs to be understand what benefits and protections are provided under the social security net in order to better establish the framework for recommendations and regulations to the unorganised sector.

Traditionally social security includes access to healthcare, income security, sickness benefits, pension schemes, insurance coverage, disability benefits. The Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention 1952 is one of the convention on social security by ILO, the organization has done a commendable job in establishing the minimum standards by taking 9 branches of social security namely-

Medical care, Sickness benefit, Unemployment benefit, Old age benefit, Employment injury benefit, Family benefits, Maternity benefit, Invalidity benefit and Survivors’ benefit. National survey haveshows that only 18.6 per cent of workers aged 15 plus are getting employer provided social security cover and written contract of more than one year[4]. The report also suggested that 53% of all the salaried workforce doesn’t have any social security benefits in the country. Among the crores of workers, lies the conundrum of the gig workers.A survey has highlighted the extended working hours that too differing across castes, financial strain and the challenges faced by the app based cab and delivery persons in India[5]. Similarly, the high commission rates of 31- 40 per cent against the claimed 20 per cent causes significant low earnings for the prisoners on wheel. Mental health issues and physical health issues have also been highlighted by the report.

EU has reached a political consensus in framing social and labour rights to online platform based gig workers. The said agreement is the Platform Work Directive (#PWD)[6]. The directive primarily lays down the guidelines in determining the employment status. As discussed previously, these workers are often confused with self employed, independent contractors or employees. Moreover, they seek to provide protections regarding personal data, algorithm based fire decisions of the platform and minimum righs like limits on working hours and proper training of workers. ILO has comprehensively analysed the said directive with the international social acquis and has recommended some of the important features like clashes with the current EU employment policy, access to collective bargaining, working time assessment etc[7].

Similar moves has been made by US seeking to turn some independent workers into employees and providing minimum wage, overtime pay and other labour protections. Singapore has extended workplace insurance and pension provisions to the gig workers

III- ILO AND SOCIAL SECURITY

While countries move forward in their endeveours to protect themuch exploited workers, they are walking on a tightrope and must also take into consideration internationally accepted standards and principles in order to better organize and ensure their security. The 2023 G20 summit held in India proved to be a fundamental space post COVID-19 to re-establish the agenda of addressing the vulnerabiltites of the platform workers. Henceforth a working paper was prepared by a collaborative effort of ILO, ISSA, OECD[8]. The report has primarily suggested curbing of misclassification of these workers in order to better determine the labour protection and employement protection. It has suggested measures like adequate pay, regulation of working hours, occupational safety and health measures and other employment protections. A much needed reform is ensuring transparency of data in case of removal from platform and access to work related data. Moreover the workers must be made aware of the rules and criteria upon which the algorithm assigns data to them. Hence apart from social protection and data sharing has been made one of the central priorities by the report.

IV- INDIA AND ITS GIG WORKERS

The host country of the summit- India isn’t too aloof from this discussion. With national reports suggesting that more than 7 million people are engaged in the gig economy, it is high time for effective and efficient social protections for the gig workers in the country[9]. The much urgent Code on Social Security, 2020[10] has replaces the previous legislations related to labour and employement laws, bringing social security to all workers including platform workers. Regrettably, the political will to implement this code remains and faint. It has provided for protection of workers at regional levels via Section 109, calling on states to provide for ‘effective assistance strategies’ for the unorganized workers. The author strongly believes that regional-level strategies would prove to be much more essential in order to better ensure worker’s entitlements and rights. The Karnataka Platform based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2024 (‘Bill’)[11] has seen the light of the day after much promises of the Congress Government in their election manifesto.

V- THE KARNATAKA PLATFORM-BASED GIG WORKERS (SOCIAL SECUIRTY AND WELFARE) BILL,2024

The paper now delves into the provisions and features of the bill. As opined by many the bill is filled with shortcomings and remains ignorant of key provisions that needs to be included. The paper shall provide the suggestions and recommendations in this regard and how the internationally establishes conventions and principles may be a serving guide for the state government’s endeavour. The Karnataka Bill comes one year after Rajasathan had introduced Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act. Both the bills are quite similar in their approach to ensuring social security of the ‘aggregators’, though the Karnataka is step ahead in affixing criminal liability in case of offences.

As discussed previously, it is quintessential for legislative bodies to recognize the right relationship between the gig workers and the platform since that would ultimately determine the extent and scope of labor rights that can be given to them. It must be noted that unlike the Code of Social Security that regulates both gig workers and platform workers, the Bill is applicable to only the subset of platform based workers. The Karnataka Bill has deviated from the Rajasthan Bill and has placed gig workers outside the traditional employer-employee relationship, it has recognized them as full timeemployees. This can be inferred by the provision that the gig workers under this Bill would be able to seek grievance redressal under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947[12], essentially equating them with “workmen” to avail this grievance redressal mechanism. The ILO Recommendation 2006 (No. 198)[13] sheds much authority on this issue, it can be said that certain elements like 1) flexibility of time 2) degree of control the employer exercises through technology 3) use of equipment and other inputs 4) substitution clauses are necessary to determine whether a person in aemployer-employee relationship. Hence courts would play an important role in determining the status of these workers. The legal battle remains pending before the Supreme Court moved by the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers seeking recognition of gig workers as worker under social security laws[14].

The Bill also emphasis on a written contract between the worker and the aggregator that must contain important provisions like grounds for termination of work, notify any changes to these contracts. These contracts must be fair and are subject to guidelines and policies specified by the state government from time to time.

It provides for income security providing that the gig workers must be paid on a weekly basis with no delay. Moreover, an aggregator must provide reasons for any deductions made to the amount paid for the work performed. Reasonable working conditions have also been part of the bill seeking protection of workers in providing a healthy working environment without risk to the health of the gig worker.

The Bill has also been in much criticism for attaching criminal liability to the officers and directors of the aggregator which could affect ease-of-business for the aggregators. Moreover, data transparency in the form of Automated Monitoring and Decision Making Systems places an obligation to the aggregators to map every transaction and communicate this information to the gig workers. Such transparency of information affecting the earnings of the workers is the step in the right direction. The workers find themselves in an “algorithmic insecurity” when they get deplatformed due to the automated system of platforms to monitor and regulate the workers. Data-sharing avenues have been made through the establishment of CTIMS (Central Transaction Information and Management System) that makes it an obligation of the aggregators to share the payments on platforms to this system for administration by the Welfare Board.

To summarize, the social security provisions given to workers under this bill include fair and transparency of contracts, reasonable and healthy work environment, income security, data transparency and sharing and penalties attached in case of contravention.

RECOMMENDATIONS

With regards to Minimum Social Standards that must be adhered to, the Bill massively falls short in regulation of working hours, adequate pay and employement protection.

Minimum wage provision can help prevent exploitation and the psychological stress faced by these workers due to in-work poverty. There are also concerns regarding excessive working hours especially the transportation workers who remain unpaid and spend their time searching for tasks. This brings us to the major issue regarding health and safety at work that the Bill fails to address adequately.

The Bill however fails to mention what would constitute as reasonable. A reasonable and healthy working environment are fundamental to conventions e Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155)and Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No. 187). Occupational safety and heath must be provided to them in the form of accident insurance and must help in prevention of injuries and diseases that they are vulnerable to. The risks associated with delivery and transportation workers remains high due to the nature of work and vulnerabilities they are exposed to[15]. Hence ensuring health and safety of these workers must be of prime importance that should be made central to this Bill. Moreover, the implementation challenges like functioning of the Welfare Board must have nominated representatives of the community from trade unions in order to avoid political biases within the board. The Board can also be regulated by keeping timely meetings quarterly instead of yearly ones in order to better decide the cases in reference to the new law and rules.

CONCLUSION

The gig economy has become a pervasive feature of the modern workforce, with its impact being felt globally. The growth of part-time employment and service sector jobs, combined with regulatory developments in the labor and product markets, have contributed to the rise of gig work. This phenomenon has led to a debate on its regulation and protection of these unorganized workers. While enjoying the flexibility of self-employment, gig workers suffer from numerous drawbacks, including minimal social protection, lack of minimum wages, and instability. The plight of gig workers is often compared to informal employment, with workers facing similar issues such as unemployment and lack of benefits. The Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2024, is a significant step towards providing social security to gig workers in India. However, it is crucial to recognize the shortcomings of the bill and ensure that it meets internationally accepted standards and principles. This paper will delve into the provisions and features of the bill, providing suggestions and recommendations for improvement.

[1]Alex de Ruyter et al., Gig Work and the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Conceptual and Regulatory Challenges, 72 Journal of International Affairs 37-50 (2019).

[2]Working Without Borders: The Promise and Peril of Online Gig Work,https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/40066.

[3]RoyChowdhury, Supriya. City of Shadows: Slums and Informal Work in Bangalore. Cambridge University Press, 2021.

[4]Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation, Periodic Labour Force Survey – Annual Report [July, 2021 – June, 2022],https://www.mospi.gov.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/AnnualReportPLFS2021-22F1.pdf?download=1

[5]Akriti Bhatia, REPORT-2 App-based workers in India, (Mar. 10, 2024), https://tgpwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Report-Final-Print-1.pdf.

[6]Gig economy: how the EU improves platform workers’ rights, (2019), https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20190404STO35070/gig-economy-how-the-eu-improves-platform-workers-rights(last visited Sep 2, 2024).

[7] An unfinished task? Matching the Platform Work Directive with the EU and international "social acquis", ILO Working Paper 101 (Geneva, ILO). https://doi.org/10.54394/ZSAX6857

[8]Providing adequate and sustainable social protection for workers in the gig and platform economy, International Labour Organization (Feb. 6, 2023), https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/how-the-ilo-works/multilateral-system/g20/WCMS_867535/lang--en/index.htm.

[9]NITI Aayog. India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy: Perspectives and Recommendations on the Future of Work.(2022)

[10]The Code on Social Security, 2020

[11]Karnataka platform- based gig workers (Social Security Bill and Welfare) Bill, 2024

[12] Industrial Disputes Act, 1947

[13] ILO, Employment Relationship Recommendation, 2006 (No. 198), 2006

[14]Gig Workers’ Access to Social Security: Writ Petition Summary (The Indian Federation of App-based Transport Workers), Supreme Court Observer (Dec. 7, 2021), https://www.scobserver.in/reports/gig-workers-access-to-social-security-the-indian-federation-of-app-based-transport-workers-ifat-v-union-of-india-writ-petition-summary/.

[15]Bajwa, U., Gastaldo, D., Di Ruggiero, E. et al. The health of workers in the global gig economy. Global Health 14, 124 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0444-8