Karnataka Assembly Passes Gig Workers’ Welfare Bill

The Karnataka legislative assembly has reportedly passed a Bill, which will pave the way for setting up of a welfare fund for gig workers. 

As per news agency PTI, the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Bill, 2025, aims to protect the rights of workers and establish a welfare board. It also places fresh obligations on aggregators with regards to the workers’ social security, occupational health and safety. 

Speaking in the assembly, state labour minister Santosh Lad reportedly said the Bill proposes a welfare fee of 1% to 5% per transaction, which will be deducted from the payouts to the worker. The fee will vary for different categories of aggregators. 

“Welfare fee of 1% to 5% of a gig worker’s payout will be collected. This cannot be equally applied to everyone as Swiggy, Zomato businesses will be different from ecommerce and so on. They are different kinds of businesses. So 1-5% will not be levied equally on everyone. We will discuss and decide on it while framing rules,” Lad added.

These funds will be pooled to build the welfare fund, which will also receive grant-in-aid from the state government, gifts, donations and transfers.

As per the report, the Bill will also provide for transparency in dispute resolution mechanisms and mandate the registration of gig workers with the proposed welfare board. As per The Hindu, the board will also reportedly take decisions on issuing health cards, safety measures, and other social security issues of workers.

In addition, the Bill also reportedly puts the onus on app-based platforms to provide income security and reasonable working conditions to its gig workers. Quoting the Bill, Lad, as per PTI, said that a gig worker cannot be terminated from service without prior notice of 14 days and without providing valid reasons in writing. 

The development comes four months after the Karnataka chief minister’s office announced plans to establish a welfare board for gig workers. Following this, the state government promulgated the Karnataka Platform-Based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Ordinance, 2025, in May. 

The ordinance was brought and cleared by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, as the matter was considered “urgent” and both houses of the State legislature were not in session.

It is pertinent to note that the state government, last year, had released a draft of the same bill, which also envisaged safeguards such as social and income security as well as other benefits.