Protection Of Gig Workers In India With New Labour Code Draft Rules & Crisis Of Ultra Fast Delivery Models

inbatv India, Legal, Study, Uncategorized, Updates

Due to speedy development of one of the largest economy of country like India and also where Indian labour market going through a structural transformation done by the digital platforms.

Now a days these app based food delivery becomes very common, from every house to every professional office the use of these food delivery app was become very common due to which the gig workers face many major problems in there life .  The gig economy are those whereby the logistics  and online free lancing work was done . Due to these platforms millions of workers earn there livelihood through the apps like swiggy, zomato, blinkit, zepto, uber and many more . The major issue arises when there was absence  of social security ,unstable income , dangerous performance targets like deliver foods only in 10 minutes .

Therefore by recognizing  these issue the government of India makes changes in the labour laws of India and thereby introduced the labour codes between the time period of 2019 and 2020 and which also include the code on social security 2020 which in the first time of history of the labour laws there was formal recognition of the gig workers and platform workers. Furthermore due to the efforts of the central government there was publication of the new draft rules to become operational in the society of India . These codes includes the registration process , eligibility criteria , social security of the funds and income and welfare of the gig workers .

This article critically examine the working condition of the gig workers , the news polices included for the gig workers under new labour code draft rules with including the legal foundation and also how to regulate these ultra fast delivery  which makes dangers to the life of the workers .

Present condition of gig workers in India:-

1. AI based management and lack of transparency

Now a days the gig worker operated through online based management system rather than a human supervised system . Majorly all the digital platform use the AI technology for determining the task of the workers , evaluating the earnings of the workers , also calculate the performance of the worker through the digital advanced modes of the AI system and thereby impose penalties on the workers based on there performance on the job . Therefore these system consider to be a black box as time ai based tools never informed the workers about how the decisions were made , why the orders were suddenly cancelled by the customer , why the income structure was change etc. Meaning thereby as most of the decision were automatically made by the software therefore the workers has the no opportunity to question that . Therefore this lack of transparency creates very difficulty for the gig workers as the livelihood of the workers were depend on these systems and they neither control nor fully understand.

2. Financial instability and fluctuating pays    

Income of the gig workers are highly instable and unpredictable there income was generally on the basis of how many delivery they make per day and according the platform pay them up . The earnings of these workers are depends on the highly instable factors such as distance travelled , price during the peak hours , based on per task , based on the targets , based on the platform commission and penalties for the late delivery or poor ratings . The more incentive based payment make a push to worker to for the do long hours works to reach the minimum earnings for there livelihood. But apart from that many workers report that there net income after deducting the fuel cost , vehicle maintain, mobile data expenses and platform charges  was falls below the minimum wage levels .  These variations  makes the workers financial planning very difficult and also increase the economic vulnerability.

3. Risks affecting health and physical safety      

While fulfilling the needs of the customer the gig workers has high risk of there health and safety . Especially the delivery riders they have the major risk factor for there physical safety and health because of the timely delivery to the customer the have rush to the customer under which many gig workers faced major accidents and high accidental risks was there . Apart from that the lonv working hours of the workers and the late nights shifts which make severe health conditions for the workers . Also the congested traffics and poor road infrastructure and exposure to extreme weather condition which further additionally makes there life very difficult. But despite these risks involved most these platforms consider the workers as an independent contractor not as the employees of there platform as a result these workers are excluded from the employment protection for example health insurance, sick leave , compensation for damages , coverage for vehicle damage . Also in cases of injury and illness these workers never get and financial help or any medical treatment by these platform companies.

4. Pressure from ultra fast delivery models         

The primary guideline of the ultra fast models was to deliver the product to the customer within 10 -15 which creates a atmosphere stressful and risky . Thereby these types of work models places high time pressure on the delivery riders , encourage them to do over speeding, violation of traffic rules , unsafe shortcuts and skipping the meals , rests or hydration. Furthermore which creates the condition of illness and fatigue to avoid the penalties of incentives . These online generated platforms rewards the speeds while penalize the delay , effectively they shifts the business risks onto the workers . This was the main reason for contributed to the rising accidents and attracted increasingly regulatory and public concern regarding the gig workers safety .

5. The labour code draft rules

The draft central rules issued in 2025 including with the code of social security 2020 constitutes the India first statutory framework law for gig and platform workers .

  1.  Legal recognition – these types of workers recognized as a separate category which is different from the employees and unorganised workers through linked to both.
  2.  process of registration– it is now that the aggregator must register the worker on a central governmental portal . But also if the worker wants to get register themselves then they also register using aadhar . Also there was provision for state to maintain a digital record to enable benefit delivery .
  3.  About the 90 days rules -This draft also introduced a eligibility that a worker must be associated with an aggregator for minimum 90 days in a financial year for the qualifications to avail the social security benefits . The aim of the provision is to benefits to the active workers but risk excluding part time , seasonal and low income workers who still depends on the gig work .
  4.  Social security funds and boards -This rules creates and established a national security board for the gig workers and platform workers . Also a social security fund was also financed by the government. It also include other benefits like life and disability insurance, accidental insurance, health and maternity benefits and old age pension schemes .

Courts interpretation:-

1. In the case of Indian  federation of app based transport workers vs union of  India [1] :- the case was filed in 2021 , under a PIL which argues that the denial of the social security to the gig workers violates the fundamental rights under article 21  and article 23 of the Indian constitution. The petitioner claims that the gig workers must be regarded as unorganised workers to avail the benefits under the code of social security 2020 .

2. The case of All India gig workers union vs uber India system pt. Ltd [2]  the case asserted where the gig workers have contested uber’s classification practices and demanded fair compensation and security benefits.

Conclusion

Due to the evolving development of the Indian gig economy there was critical need for a a approach that balance the rights and address the problem of the gif workers . The shift from work force to the work done by digital platforms brings the difficulty in the legal and ethical considerations for the legal rights of the gig workers . Thereby the landmark judicial decisions make it clear that the economic dependence demand for the legal protection irrespective of contractual labels. For India to connect justice with innovation must evolve the labour laws for the gig workers also with the welfare boards for gig workers . It must confront the unsafe business model such as 10 minute delivery and also impose the accountability on aggregator and inculcate the constitutional values of dignity , safety and equality into the digital economy.

References

  1. Draft central rules under labour codes , government of India 2025.
  2. Ministry of labour and employment “social security for gig and platforms workers -policy note”
  3. Indian federation of app based transport workers v. union of India W.P (C) No. 1082 of 2020 SCC
  4. All India gig workes union vs uber India system pt.ltd (2023) SCC
  5. Davidov G. a purposive approach to labour law Oxford university press .
  6. Cherry M “Regulating the platform economy” university of Chicago law review.

[1] Indian  federation of app based transport workers vs union of  India (2021)

[2] All India gig workes union vs uber India system pt.ltd (2023) SCC

By: Lovepreet Singh

University Institute of legal studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh

Course- B.A. LL.B. (3rd Year)