Code on Social Security 2020: 90-day engagement rule for gig-worker social-security cover

Key facts

• The Ministry of Labour and Employment pre-published draft rules under the Code on Social Security, 2020 proposing that a gig or platform worker must be engaged for 'not less than 90 days with an aggregator, or in the case of multiple aggregators, not less than one hundred and twenty days, in the last financial year' to qualify for social-security benefits.
• A worker is counted as 'engaged' on a calendar day if they earn any income, irrespective of amount, for work done for an aggregator on that day.
• If a worker is associated with multiple aggregators, engagement days across all aggregators will be added together; being engaged with three aggregators on the same calendar day will be counted as three separate days of engagement.
• Stakeholders have 30 to 45 days to submit objections and suggestions before the rules are finalised for implementation alongside all four labour codes from 1 April.