Gig Workers and Platform Workers — Labour Law II Notes

Gig Workers and Platform Workers

The delivery rider who brings your dinner and the driver who takes you home are not “employees” of any company — the app says they are “partners”. For years that left them with none of the protections a worker gets. The Social Security Code, 2020 is the first Indian law to name them and bring them inside the safety net.

The new categories, their schemes, and the aggregator’s contribution

The Social Security Code (Chapter IX, with the definitions in Section 2 and the Fund in Section 141) creates two new statutory categories:

a gig worker — a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside the traditional employer-employee relationship; and
a platform worker — a person engaged in platform work, i.e. a work arrangement outside a traditional employer-employee relationship in which organisations use an online platform/aggregator to connect with individuals to solve a problem or provide a service for payment (ride-hailing, food/parcel delivery, e-marketplace tasks).

Schemes (Section 114). The Central Government may frame and notify social-security schemes for gig and platform workers on:

life and disability cover;
accident insurance;
health and maternity benefits; and
old-age protection and any other benefit.

Funding — the aggregator contribution. This is the novel bit. Schemes may be funded partly by the aggregators (the platform businesses). A notified aggregator contribution — a percentage of the aggregator’s annual turnover, subject to a cap (a share of the amount paid to gig/platform workers) — is payable and credited to the Social Security Fund (Section 141), alongside Government and worker contributions.

Registration (Section 113). A gig/platform worker (aged 16–60) registers on the prescribed portal (e-Shram) with self-declaration and Aadhaar to become eligible.

Enforcement status — state it honestly. The Social Security Code, 2020 has been enacted but is not yet fully in force; the operative rules and the schemes for gig/platform workers were still being framed/notified as the Code is rolled out. So teach the framework as the law provides, while noting that the specific schemes take effect on notification.

Section 114(1), Code on Social Security 2020 (in brief): “The Central Government may frame and notify … suitable social security schemes for gig workers and platform workers on matters relating to — (a) life and disability cover; (b) accident insurance; (c) health and maternity benefits; (d) old age protection; (e) crèche …”, and such schemes may be funded by contributions including from the aggregators.

In Simple Terms: Gig and platform workers earn outside a normal job — through apps and aggregators. The Code lets the Centre make welfare schemes for them (life, accident, health, old-age), part-funded by a levy on the aggregators’ turnover paid into the Social Security Fund, with workers registering on e-Shram. The framework is law; the detailed schemes take effect as they are notified.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — a delivery rider’s cover

Facts. A food-delivery rider working through an app is injured in a road accident and asks whether the law protects him.

Rule. A platform worker may be covered by Central schemes for accident insurance and health/disability cover (s.114), funded partly by an aggregator contribution into the Social Security Fund (s.141), on registration (s.113).

Apply. As a registered platform worker he is within the intended scheme; the aggregator’s contribution helps fund his accident cover — subject to the scheme being notified and in force.

Conclusion. The Code brings him inside the safety net through notified schemes; note that the benefit crystallises when the relevant scheme is notified.

flowchart TD
    ROOT["Gig & Platform Workers (CSS Ch IX)"]:::root
    ROOT --> DEF["Gig: outside employer-employee; Platform: via online aggregator (s.2)"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> SCH["Schemes (s.114): life/disability, accident, health/maternity, old-age"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> AGG["Aggregator contribution: % of turnover (capped)"]:::leaf
    AGG --> FUND["Social Security Fund (s.141)"]:::pay
    ROOT --> REG["Register (s.113) via e-Shram"]:::leaf
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,stroke-width:1px,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    classDef pay fill:#E7F6E7,stroke:#217a21,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

Case Laws

In re: Problems and Miseries of Migrant Labourers (2020) — the Supreme Court’s push for registration and social-security delivery includes gig/platform and unorganised workers on the e-Shram framework.
(Contextual) — petitions by gig-worker unions before the Supreme Court have sought enforcement of social-security registration for platform workers, underscoring the topicality of Chapter IX.

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