Gig workers with 90-day employment to be under new labour codes

The Centre has published the draft rules for the four labour codes, which also bring gig workers on board for various benefits such as minimum wage, health, occupational safety, and social security coverage.

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has invited feedback from stakeholders on these draft rules and is looking at the possibility of a nationwide rollout of the package of four labour codes from April 1.

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Under the draft rules, in order to be eligible for the benefits, a gig or platform worker must be associated with an aggregator for at least 90 days in a financial year to qualify for social security benefits created by the Centre. If a worker is engaged with more than one aggregator, the minimum requirement is fixed at 120 days.

The rules say that a worker is considered “engaged” on any calendar day if he/she earns income for work done for an aggregator, regardless of how much the earning is.

If a worker is associated with multiple aggregators, the number of engagement days will be added together across all aggregators. The draft also states that if a worker is engaged with three aggregators on the same calendar day, it will be counted as three separate days of engagement.

Regarding the minimum wage, the draft rules state that when the rate of wages for a day is fixed, then such amount shall be divided by eight for fixing the rate of wages for an hour and multiplied by 26 for fixing the rate of wages for a month. In the case of a five-day working week, the hourly rate of minimum wages so calculated shall be used to derive the minimum wages for the day.

While fixing the minimum rates of wages, the government shall take into account the geographical area, experience in the area of employment, and level of skill required for working under the categories of unskilled, semiskilled, skilled, and highly skilled, the rules further state.

The four labour codes are : the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020.

The labour codes make it mandatory for employers to issue appointment letters to all workers, which provide written proof to ensure transparency, job security, and fixed employment. Earlier, no mandatory appointment letters were required.