REGULATING PLATFORM-BASED WORK: ASSESSING EMPLOYER LIABILITY OF AGGREGATORS IN INDIA

AUTHOR – NAGA BALAJI JAKKA, STUDENT AT AMITY UNIVERSITY, NOIDA

BEST CITATION – NAGA BALAJI JAKKA, REGULATING PLATFORM-BASED WORK: ASSESSING EMPLOYER LIABILITY OF AGGREGATORS IN INDIA, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (6) OF 2026, PG. 960-971, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

The rise of digital platforms has fundamentally altered the nature of work. Millions of workers in India today earn their livelihoods by providing services—rides, deliveries, domestic help, freelance tasks—through mobile applications operated by aggregator companies. These workers are typically classified as independent contractors, not employees, placing them outside the reach of core labour protections that govern wages, working hours, social security, and occupational safety. This article critically examines whether India’s legal framework adequately addresses the question of employer liability for aggregators in platform-based work. It analyses the relevant provisions of the four Labour Codes enacted between 2019 and 2020, with particular focus on the Code on Social Security, 2020, which for the first time recognises gig and platform workers as a distinct category. The article critically evaluates the existing definitions of ‘aggregator,’ ‘gig worker,’ and ‘platform worker,’ examines the tests used by Indian courts to determine employment status, traces comparative developments in the United Kingdom, the European Union, France, and Australia, and analyses recent Indian legislative initiatives including the Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act, 2023. It argues that India’s current approach—creating a sui generis social security framework while preserving the independent contractor classification—is an incomplete and ultimately unsatisfactory solution that fails to confront the structural power imbalance at the core of platform work. The article concludes with recommendations for a more comprehensive regulatory framework that imposes genuine employer-like obligations on aggregators proportionate to the control they exercise over platform workers.

Keywords: Platform Work, Gig Economy, Aggregators, Employer Liability, Code on Social Security 2020, Labour Codes, Gig Workers, Independent Contractor, Employment Status, Rajasthan Gig Workers Act.