- Centre issues draft rules to implement four labour codes, bringing gig and platform workers under minimum wages, social security, and workplace safety norms for the first time.
- Eligibility criteria defined for gig workers’ benefits, requiring 90-120 days of engagement with aggregators, with provisions for those working across multiple platforms.
- Mandatory appointment letters and uniform wage calculation proposed, aiming to formalise employment, enhance transparency, and extend labour protections nationwide from April 1.
The Centre has released the draft rules for the implementation of the four labour codes, marking a significant step towards extending formal labour protections to gig and platform workers across the country. For the first time, workers engaged through digital platforms and aggregators will be brought under the ambit of minimum wages, occupational safety, health provisions and social security benefits.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment has invited feedback from stakeholders on the draft rules and is exploring the possibility of rolling out the full package of labour codes nationwide from April 1. According to the draft rules, gig and platform workers will need to meet specific eligibility criteria to avail social security benefits created by the Centre.
A worker must be associated with an aggregator for at least 90 days in a financial year to qualify for benefits. In cases where a worker is engaged with more than one aggregator, the minimum threshold has been fixed at 120 days in a year. The rules clarify that a worker will be considered 'engaged' on any calendar day if he or she earns any income from work performed for an aggregator, irrespective of the amount earned on that day.
The draft also provides clarity for workers associated with multiple platforms. In such cases, the number of engagement days will be calculated by adding the days worked across all aggregators. If a worker is engaged with three different aggregators on the same calendar day, each engagement will be counted separately, effectively treating it as three days of work for eligibility calculations.
On the issue of minimum wages, the draft rules lay down a uniform method for wage calculation. When a daily wage rate is fixed, the amount will be divided by eight to determine the hourly wage and multiplied by 26 to arrive at the monthly wage. For establishments following a five-day working week, the hourly wage thus calculated will be used to derive the daily wage.
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The government has stated that while fixing minimum wages, factors such as the geographical area, experience in the field of employment and the level of skill required will be taken into account. Workers will be categorised as unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled or highly skilled for this purpose.
The four labour codes covered under the draft rules include the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. Together, these codes aim to consolidate and modernise India’s labour laws while ensuring wider coverage and simplified compliance.
A key provision under the new framework is the mandatory issuance of appointment letters by employers to all workers. This move is intended to provide written proof of employment, promote transparency and offer greater job security. Earlier, there was no statutory requirement for appointment letters, particularly in informal and gig-based employment. With these draft rules, the government is seeking to formalise large sections of the workforce and ensure that emerging forms of employment are backed by basic labour rights and protections.
