Karnataka Releases Draft Bill To Protect Gig Workers, Seeks Stakeholders’ Suggestions

The Karnataka government has released a draft Bill aimed at protecting the rights of gig workers in the state and also to offer them social and income security.

The draft of the Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2024, proposes various welfare measures for gig workers and mandates the app-based delivery and ride-hailing platforms to provide them with social security benefits.

The draft Bill states that it is meant to “protect the rights of platform based gig workers, to place obligations on aggregators in relation to social security, occupational health and safety, transparency in automated monitoring and decision-making systems, to provide dispute resolution mechanisms, to establish a welfare board and create a welfare fund for platform based gig workers, to register platform based gig workers and aggregators in the state.”

With this, the likes of Swiggy, Zomato, Urban Company, Ola, Uber, Rapido, Flipkart, Amazon as well as several other app-based startups are likely to come under the purview of the state government for their treatment of the gig workers employed with the companies.

If passed, Karnataka would become the second state after Rajasthan to introduce a law for platform-based gig workers.

Currently, the draft Bill is available in the public domain and the government has sought comments from stakeholders on the proposals in the Bill.

The Major Proposals In The Bill

The Karnataka government has proposed to set up a gig workers welfare board, which would be headquartered in Bengaluru.

As part of proposing the rights for gig workers, the draft Bill suggested that a platform-based gig worker shall have the right to be registered with the state government upon being onboarded on any platform, irrespective of the duration of the work and the person would be provided a Unique ID applicable across all platforms.

The gig workers would also have access to general and specific social security schemes based on contributions made by them as notified by the state government and have access to a grievance redressal mechanism, among others.

The welfare board is also expected to maintain proper accounts and other relevant records. The Bill states that the aggregators shall provide the board with its database of all gig workers onboarded or registered with them within sixty days from the date of commencement of this Act.

“The Board shall maintain a database of gig workers in the State along with the details of their employment with one or more aggregators, and notwithstanding the duration or time of engagement with any platform,” the draft Bill stated.

In case of termination of work, the contractual agreement between the aggregator and the gig worker should contain an exhaustive list of grounds for termination of the contract by the latter or deactivation of the gig worker from the platform.

“An aggregator shall not terminate a gig worker without giving valid reasons in writing and with prior notice of fourteen days,” the draft Bill proposed.

Besides, if there are payment deductions, the platforms are also mandated to inform the gig workers about the reasons. The aggregators must compensate the gig workers at least on a weekly basis with no delay in disbursal of pay, the draft Bill said.

To be clear, the Bill said that the services provided by these “aggregators” include ride-sharing services, food and grocery delivery, logistics services, e-marketplace (B2B/B2C), professional services providers, healthcare, travel and hospitality, and content and media services.

“The aggregator must provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of the platform-based gig worker,” the Bill stated.

The Background

It is pertinent to note that last year in its election manifesto, Congress promised to set up a ‘Gig Workers’ Welfare Board’ for Karnataka with a seed money allotment of INR 3,000 Cr. 

It said that Congress would introduce a new transparent policy to out-source employment for gig workers if the political party came to power in the state.

In July last year, the Karnataka government announced a free accidental and life insurance cover worth INR 4 Lakh for gig workers to ensure their social security. Out of the total INR 4 Lakh insurance facility, INR 2 Lakh is provided for life and another INR 2 Lakh for accidental insurance.

Over the years, gig workers employed across platforms have staged protests in various parts of the country against company policies around wage payments, social security benefits, and working hours, among others.

Being one of the top places for gig workers, Bengaluru has also witnessed several such protests and complaints were lodged with the Labour department. Last month, women gig workers working with Urban Company went on a strike at the startup’s Bengaluru office to protest against its new work policies.

‘Fairwork India Ratings 2023’ had rated Ola, Uber, Dunzo, and Porter as the worst-performing startups on its ratings for gig platforms on the grounds of five aspects – fair pay, fair conditions, fair contracts, fair management, and fair representation.