Karnataka releases draft Bill to protect platform-based gig workers
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Government of Karnataka publishes draft bill on social security for gig workers !
As per a Public Notice dated 29 June 2024, the Karnataka government has released the draft Karnataka Platform based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2024 inviting objections/ suggestions. The notice also provides for a 10- working day period from the date of its publication on the Labour Department Website for providing suggestions or raising concerns.
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.
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.