The Rajasthan Assembly, on Monday, passed a bill extending social security to Gig Workers in the state. The bill aims to register platform-based gig workers and their aggregators, in a bid to monitor the welfare of the underpaid gig workers.

The Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Bill aims to establish a welfare fund, making the state led by chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot the first to do so.

A gig worker is a professional who, instead of receiving a regular income, receives payment based on completing one-time projects or gigs. The Code on Social Security Bill 2019 defines gig worker as, “a person who performs work or participates in a work arrangement and earns from such activities outside of traditional employer-employee relationships”.

The lack of definition in the other codes and improper clarity on provisions with regard to what gig workers can avail in terms of protections and minimum wages, has often left these workers at the mercy of the aggregators who employ them. In such a scenario, the Bill comes as heartening news for gig workers in Rajasthan.

The Bill: Who Does It Apply To?

The Bill pertains to the gig workers as well as the "aggregators" who are digital middlemen who connect buyers and sellers, and "primary employers," which are individuals or organisations who hire platform-based workers to provide one or more of the following services:

-Ride sharing

-Food and security delivery

-Logistics

-E-market place for wholesale/retail sale of goods and/or services Business to Business/Business to Consumer (B2B/B2C)

-Healthcare

-Travel and hospitality

-Content and media services

What are the features of the Bill?

The welfare Board will comprise of representatives of gig workers, state government, and aggregators to “govern the norms of implementation and monitoring of the Act”. It will set up a monitoring mechanism to review compliance of provisions of this Act, formulate and notify schemes for social security of registered platform-based gig workers and ensure that workers have access to the benefits as per the schemes formulated by them.

The Board will further engage with registered unions working with platform-based gig workers and hold regular open consultations with them.

Maintaining database of workers and employers

The Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers Welfare Board requires aggregators and principal employers to share their worker database. These workers will be instantly registered with the Board, which will keep a database of state workers, their employment with one or more aggregators/primary employers, and their time spent engaging with app-based platforms. The Board will then assign a unique ID to each gig worker hired in the state. The registration "shall be valid in perpetuity".

Additionally, the Board will also "publish the register of aggregators and primary employer on its web portal”.

Aggregators/employers mandated to pay welfare cess

Welfare cess refers to a cut from each transaction (performed after the completion of a gig) which the aggregator or the employer is required to pay. This amount will be called "The Platform Based Gig Workers Welfare Cess." While the rate will be announced by the state government, it will not exceed 2% nor fall below 1% of the value of any transaction involving platform-based gig workers. This sum is due by the fifth day of each calendar month.

Welfare fund for gig workers

In accordance to the Bill, the state government will establish a “Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers Social Security and Welfare Fund” for gig worker benefits which will include the sum total money received from welfare cess, all contributions made by individual platform-based gig workers, the money received as grant-in-aid from the State Government and, lastly, all sums received by way of grants, gifts, donations, benefactions, bequests or transfers.

Establishment of a Central Transaction Information and Management System (CTIMS)-

This system will tracks all payments made on platforms and will come within the ambit of the Board. According to the Bill, the system will clearly enlist the "break up of commission charged, payment made to Platform Based Gig Workers, Goods and Services Tax (GST) deducted and welfare cess deducted". 

The specifics of welfare cess funds raised and spent at the level of platform-based gig workers will be declared and made available for scrutiny on this system.

What is the grievance redressal mechanism under the Bill?

As per Section 15 of the Bill, a worker can file a petition physically before an officer or online through the web portal in case of grievances stemming from any “entitlements, payments, and other benefits provided under the Act”. 

The officer appointed can then dispense of the petition by issuing a redressal order and directing the aggregator/primary employer to pay adequate compensation. Meanwhile, the employer has 90 days from the date of the order to file an appeal with the Appellate Authority. The Bill, however, states that the Authority can cater to the appeal even after 90 days “if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from filing the appeal in time”.

In case the aggregators are found violating the provisions of the Bill, they will face a monetary penalty of up to Rs 5 lakh for the first offence and up to Rs 50 lakh for consecutive offences. Similarly, the primary employers will be fined up to Rs 10,000 for the first offence and up to Rs 2 lakh for consecutive offences. In the event of nonpayment, the fine shall be recovered in accordance with the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, according to the Bill.