Gig Economy|what are gig workers |labour laws and gig workers|what is gig economy|gig worker laws
#gigeconomy #gigworkers
Gig workers refer to the workers outside of the traditional employer-employee relationship including freelancers, workers who are employed on a contractual basis with their employers, project based work and short term work.
Most commonly, platform based work where workers earn money by providing specific services, including food delivery services like Zomato, Swiggy or e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart etc., use gig workers.
A 2017 Ernst and Young study on the “Future of Jobs in India” even found that 24% of the world’s gig workers come from India
The gig economy allows different people across cities, age groups, and skill sets to pick up work without being tied down to one single project. Those just entering the workforce find it easier to find gig work than conventional jobs that need some amount of work experience
Labour Laws and Gig Workers
with the absence of specific legislations, gig workers cannot claim consequential benefits such as minimum wages, hours of work, overtime, leave, etc. as compared to most traditional long-term employees. This is because the current labour laws in place do not encompass the nature of work done by gig workers
Currently, Indian labour and employment laws recognize three main categories of employees: government employees, employees in government-controlled corporate bodies known as Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and private sector employees who may be managerial staff or workmen. All these employees are ensured certain working conditions, such as minimum wages under The Minimum Wages Act, 1948, a set number of hours of work, compensation for termination, etc. Currently, gig workers lack the ‘employee’ status under Indian law, thereby resulting in several consequences, such as an inability to form unions to represent their interests, exploitative contacts, etc.
New Law
Even though gig workers will get protections such as minimum wages, crucial protections related to occupational health and safety still remain to be addressed. Once the current draft Code becomes a law, gig workers would get schemes which are notified by the State and Central Government, including life and disability cover
Other Benefits:
New Social Security Fund.
Gig workers will also be eligible to insurance benefits provided by state-run Employees’ State Insurance Corporation.
According to the draft Bill, they will also be entitled to life & disability cover, health & maternity benefits,
old-age protection,
and “other benefits” laid out by the central government, which will frame social security schemes for them
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