Draft regulations on social security benefits published by the Union Labour Ministry will compel gig and platform workers to have a specified minimum level of engagement to receive the benefits. According to the proposal, the workers should work at least 90 days in a financial year to be entitled to benefits with one aggregator. The minimum number of engagement days required by those engaged in various aggregators is 120 engagement days.
The draft notification was released, one day before a planned strike by gig and platform workers on New Year’s Eve, by which the workers have been seeking increased payouts, better working conditions, and clearer protections of welfare.
The proposed model will declare a gig or platform employee as engaged with an aggregator on any calendar day where they receive income for work completed, irrespective of the amount received. Any amount of earnings earned on a particular day shall be considered an engagement day to compute the eligibility.
The number of engagement days will be summed up among all platforms for workers related to more than one aggregator. The draft regulations also provide that in case an employee works on different aggregators on the same working day, every instance will be counted individually. An example is where a worker has earned a total of three aggregators on a particular day; then it will be counted as three engagement days.
The regulations expand the definition of eligibility as well, by laying out the nature of engagement clear. The relevant worker will be regarded as an eligible worker in case of a gig or platform worker who is involved with an aggregator, either directly or indirectly. This incorporates participation via an associate’s company, holding company, subsidiary, limited liability partnership, or even through a third-party arrangement.
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