Are gig workers and platform workers protected under the new labour law framework?

Understanding Gig Workers and Platform Workers:

India's vast informal workforce has historically driven economic growth while remaining largely outside the ambit of legal protection. This contradiction is nowhere more apparent than in the gig economy, where millions earn their livelihoods through work arrangements that fall outside the conventional employer–employee framework. The Code on Social Security, 2020 (“SS Code”) attempts to address this reality by defining a "gig worker" as a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationship (“Gig Worker”) while “platform worker” is defined as a person engaged in or undertaking platform work (“Platform Worker”). The categories may be a blur in practice, yet the distinction between both the terminologies is legally significant, as it reflects a deliberate legislative acknowledgment that non-traditional work cannot be treated as a monolithic concept.

Crucially, both categories of workers are, for the first time, expressly brought within the fold of a statutory labour framework. The pre-existing labour law architecture was constructed almost exclusively around formal employment relationships, a model that left non-traditional workers without recourse. The SS Code marks a meaningful departure from that approach. By legislatively recognising Gig Workers and Platform Workers as distinct categories deserving of social security coverage, the Indian Parliament has signalled a shift in policy thinking, even if the framework stops well short of conferring upon them the full spectrum of rights and protections available to employees under conventional labour law.

The Code on Social Security: A Structural Shift:

Chapter IX of the SS Code is dedicated specifically to social security for unorganised workers, Gig Workers and Platform Workers. The practical contours of this framework are already beginning to take shape. The SS Code entails registration of the Gig Workers and the Platform Workers and unorganised workers, on a government-designated portal, subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions as prescribed under the SS Code. This registration serves as the foundational eligibility criterion for access to any social security benefits that may be notified under the SS Code. Further, the funding architecture is equally noteworthy. The platforms through which Gig Workers and Platform Workers operate, are mandated to contribute between 1% and 2% of their annual turnover to a dedicated social security fund.

This dual mechanism of registration and aggregator contribution is both deliberate and instructive. It reflects a pragmatic acknowledgment of the economic realities underpinning platform-based work, while carefully avoiding any structural disruption to the business models upon which these platforms are built.

Furthermore, the SS Code prescribes that the government may set up a toll-free call centre or helpline or such facilitation centres as may be considered necessary from time to time for the Gig Workers and Platform Workers and the central government may frame suitable social security schemes for Gig Workers and Platform Workers on matters including but not limited to life and disability cover, accident insurance and other such benefits.

Recognised But Not Yet Protected — The Limits of the SS Code:

In its present form, the SS Code falls short of creating immediate or enforceable entitlements for Gig Workers and Platform Workers. Rajasthan's enactment of a dedicated gig worker welfare legislation in 2023 is an indicator of growing state-level consciousness, yet such efforts remain sporadic and uncoordinated at best. Given that social security is a concurrent subject, the risk of a fragmented, jurisdiction-dependent mosaic of protections remains real which directly undermines the uniformity that the SS Code ostensibly seeks to achieve.