INTRODUCTION
Gig workers became a prominent subject of parliamentary discussion during the 2025 Winter Session. Picture having full control over your working hours yet never being certain if this month’s income will be enough to pay the rent. Picture being labelled “self-employed,” but having no protection when illness or injury strikes. For millions of gig workers, delivery riders, drivers, and freelancers this is not a thought experiment, but everyday life in an economy built on instant convenience.
During recent parliamentary discussions, voices like Rahul Chadda have helped spotlight this crisis. The core issue is a broken trade-off, while the workers get flexibility they lose security. They are called “partners” but treated as disposable, and one of the most pressing concerns he raised was the urgent need for a legislative framework that safeguards the rights of gig workers. This framework could include minimum wage guarantees, safety regulations, and access to health benefits, which would help create a fairer working environment.
WHERE DO GIG WORKERS STAND?
In India, the gig economy has grown at a breathtaking pace. From food delivery riders and cab drivers to warehouse pickers and home service providers, millions now depend on app based work for their livelihood. Yet, the law has not kept up with this shift. Our labour laws were written decades ago, for a time when work was more straightforward, back then, you were either an employee with clear rights and protections, or you were self-employed and fully on your own.
Gig workers fall somewhere in between. While they are called “partners” or “independent workers” by platforms, but in reality, their work is tightly controlled, much like that of an employee. Algorithms decide their pay, working hours, routes, incentives, and even penalties like when a delivery rider in India who refuses too many orders risks being “logged out” of the app or when a cab driver who cancels rides may see his ratings drop and earnings shrink. This raises an important question: how independent are these workers really?
Indian courts and policymakers are still struggling with this dilemma. While there have been growing discussions in Parliament, especially during recent Winter Sessions, there is still no clear legal framework that fully protects gig workers. As a result, they remain stuck in a grey zone, bearing the risks of self-employment while working under conditions similar to employees. Until clear answers emerge, gig workers are forced to follow the rules of employment without receiving its protections. This legal uncertainty leaves millions without job security, health cover, or any real safety net.
BUILDING A PORTABLE SAFETY NET
One promising way forward in the Indian context is the idea of portable benefits. Instead of forcing gig workers into outdated legal categories, this approach recognises that modern work is flexible and that the law must adapt accordingly.
Under this model, benefits such as health insurance, accident cover, and pension contributions would follow the worker, not the job. Whether a person works for Swiggy today, Uber tomorrow, or multiple platforms at the same time, their benefits would remain intact. Importantly, digital platforms would be legally required to contribute to these benefit funds, similar to how employers contribute to provident funds or social security for regular employees.
The Code On Social Security, 2020
India has taken a small step in this direction through the Code on Social Security, 2020, which, for the first time, acknowledges gig and platform workers; however, recognition alone is not enough without clear enforcement, funding mechanisms, and guaranteed benefits. For now, this promise remains more symbolic than real.
If India wants its gig economy to thrive sustainably, it must move beyond symbolic recognition and build a strong, portable safety net. In a country where informal work has always dominated, protecting gig workers is not just a labour issue; it is a question of dignity, fairness, and inclusive growth in the digital age.
THE HIDDEN HURTS: MIND GAMES AND DEAD ENDS
However, fixing pay and benefits only solves part of the puzzle. Two deeper, often ignored, struggles are crushing workers’ spirits, and they have serious legal implications.
a)A New Kind of Workplace Stress
For most gig workers, there is no human boss. Their entire working life is controlled by an app. The algorithm decides who gets orders, who earns incentives, and who is quietly pushed aside. This constant digital monitoring creates intense stress, yet the law barely acknowledges it. When an app “ghosts” a worker (stops sending requests after a complaint), is that a form of algorithmic retaliation? Do workers have a right to know exactly how these opaque systems judge and penalize them? Data protection laws also remain unclear about how much transparency platforms owe workers whose livelihoods depend entirely on opaque algorithms. Without new legal standards, workers remain powerless before a system they cannot see or challenge.
b)No Way Out: When Gig Work Becomes a Dead End
For many in India, gig work is a temporary solution, taken up due to unemployment, financial distress, or lack of opportunities. But years later, workers often find themselves stuck. A delivery partner who has completed thousands of orders over a decade has no formal work certificate, no recognised experience, and no assets to show a bank. Their digital reputation, built through consistent labour, has no value outside the platform.
As workers grow older, the question becomes even starker, what happens after retirement, when the body can no longer keep up with the demands of constant riding, driving, or deliveries, and there is no pension or social security to rely on.
There is no legal system that allows this work history to be used for skill recognition, business loans, or career transitions. The law treats gig work as if it leaves no trace, even though it demands years of physical effort and emotional strain. Without pathways for upskilling, credit access, or job mobility, gig work risks becoming a trap rather than a stepping stone.
CONCLUSION
The biggest failure so far is not just weak laws, it is the way we look at the problem. Gig work is always discussed in pieces, as technology experts focus only on the app and its code, then economists talk about supply and demand in the labour market, and lawmakers, meanwhile, rely on old legal categories that no longer fit modern work. By viewing the crisis in fragments, we fail to see the gig worker as a whole human being.
What India needs is a more connected legal approach, one that brings different fields together. Protecting gig workers cannot be the job of labour law alone.
Labour laws must work alongside data protection rules to check the unchecked power of algorithms that control pay, ratings, and access to work. Urban policymakers need to coordinate with platforms to ensure that work opportunities are not unfairly concentrated in certain areas while others are left out. Financial regulators must step in to recognise digital work histories so that years of deliveries or rides can count toward bank loans, insurance, or future businesses.
Author: Shambhavi Jha, 1st year Law Student, ILNU Nirma University, Ahmadabad
Also Read: COMPLETE GUILD TO INDIA’S NEW LABOUR CODES – J.P. Associates