In September 2020, amidst the pandemic-induced lockdown, the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers filed a petition at the Court asking for gig workers to be recognised as ‘unorganised workers’ so that they may avail of social security benefits. Presently, the contract between gig workers and the companies hiring them identifies them as ‘partners’ and not as ‘employees’. This deprives them of the benefits of social security legislation.
‘Across the world, labour law jurisprudence has rejected the attempt of aggregators to try and deprive these (gig) workers of their labour law rights,’ highlights Professor Babu Mathew of the National Law School of India University, in an interview with SCO. ‘The Supreme Court of England in a unanimous decision said you [aggregators] can’t avoid labour law by calling them [gig workers] as partners.’
