I.INTRODUCTION

In the 21st century, workers of the most countries, which are called professionals are changing their way of work in terms  of workplace, work hours in form of short term contract, work modes in terms of freelance work, on-demand tasks and the second side businesses are adapting several ways such as integrating freelancers, contractors and gig workers in  day to Day business. In the context of India, the top five biggest population for the gig worker But, in the practical scenario where gig workers are facing many issues such as not being treated as an employee which led to not availability of insurance, non-access of social security, pension.

To employee welfare and employer flexibility, the government introduced new labour code 2025 to ensure that India’s workforce is protected, while giving operational freedom to businesses in pursuit of economic growth.

In this Article, The Author critically Examine the gig workers issues during Arbitration with the single larger company when they have single arbitration clause and gig workers usually lost their rights during arbitration process, the party companies don’t want to go through the entire litigation process and sometimes they use leave it procedure which from workers get affected. In the gig economy, gig workers do not have a legislations process like still they have been included in the category of the independent contractors rather than ‘employees’. New labour code 2025, which was implemented from April 2025 into three phases and gave flexibility to the employees in terms of working days and social security. Other acts like labour act, 1947, employment act didn’t recognise workers as ‘employees’ that’s why gig workers do not have access to give more benefits under the legislation like health insurance, society security, government scheme benefits, others. Before going into arbitration, the government should impose a rule that the provisions regarding the pre-mediation process, so that gig workers should be affordable to the fees.

II. PROVISIONS REGARDING ARBITRATION

The mandatory arbitration agreements that accompany the adhesion includes for partnership often contain unilateral appointment of sole arbitrators. The statutory position pre-amendment to the Act, did not have any strict guidelines with respect to the impartiality or independence of the arbitrators. Consequently, The International Bar Association on Conflict of Interest was incorporated within the Act in order to establish standards in the form of Schedule 5 and 7 under Section 12 (5) of the industrial dispute Act, 1947. According to section 12(5) of the act, the prior existence of a relationship between an individual and the arbitrator does not disqualify a person from being an arbitrator but it raises certain doubts regarding the independence and impartiality between gig workers and platforms.

Under the new code, section 42 of the industrial relation code, 2020 replaced the relevant section of industrial dispute act arbitration with the voluntary arbitration regime that subsequently disapplied the arbitration and conciliation Act, 1996. To add further, section 4 of the industrial relation code, 2020 prescribed about the mandatory constitution of a grievance redressal committee for more than 20 workers, which work like an internal mini arbitral from having provision to follow a strict timeline for resolving disputes. And the second side, an arbitration agreement must be in writing to be filed with the appropriate “government conciliation officer”  within 30 days.

III. ANALYZING THE KEY ISSUES DURING ARBITRATION

Unilateral appointment of the arbitrator in the arbitration refers to the situation where the  gig platforms or companies have the absolute authority or power to  choose the arbitrator to resolve the disputes with gig workers, without taking the worker’s consent in the selection of arbitrator.^[1]  Companies exercise undue control over the arbitration process and therefore, sometimes considered problematic due to potential concerns of unfairness and partiality. Independence and impartiality is the hallmark feature of arbitration and fundamental to the rule of natural justice. As per section 18 of Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, the parties should be treated and be given full opportunity to present their arguments. Party autonomy is another key element of the arbitration process. In the case of Centrotrade Minerals & Metal Inc. v. Hindustan Copper Ltd.,^[2] The Supreme Court reaffirmed the party autonomy as the key feature of the arbitration process. The judgement of this case was also followed in the PASL Wind Solutions (P) Ltd. v. GE Power Conversion (India) (P) Ltd.^[3] But, this principle of party autonomy seems odd when questioning the independence and impartiality of arbitrators, who were appointed by unilateral decisions of companies. And there have been conflicts of opinions of various courts in India with respect to the unilateral appointment of the arbitrators. Finally in the case of TRF Ltd. v. Energo Engg. Projects Ltd the Supreme Court ruled “once infrastructure collapses, superstructure is bound to collapse”. The judgement of TRF case barred the provision of unilateral appointment of arbitrators and laid down the foundation of Arbitration & Conciliation Amendment Act, 2015.     

This recent practice is the most controversial part of mandatory arbitration agreement is class action waiver. In this practice, there is an imbalance of power between the company and independent gig workers. In the agreement, they have mentioned mandatory single arbitration clause where totally prohibition to go into the litigation process and second part where the arbitration Tribunal have not absolutely power to decide on every aspect of gig workers and their rights, such as in case of Dushyant Janbandhu vs M/S Hyundai Autoever India Pvt Ltd  The Supreme Court held that disputes concerning non-payment of wages and wrongful termination are exclusively within the purview of statutory authorities under the Payment of Wages Act 1936 and the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 rendering them non-arbitrable. The Court emphasized that Section 22 of the Payment of Wages Act explicitly bars civil court jurisdiction in the matters of wages recovery.

                IV.  NAVIGATING THE LANDSCAPE FOR GIG WORKERS

The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment^[4] consolidated 29 existing central laws into four codes such as the Code on Wages, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, the Industrial Relations Code, and the Code on Social Security.^[5] The government planned to implement the labour code into three phases like in the first phase, large companies with over 500 employees will have to  adopt the new codes firstly. Secondly, Medium-sized enterprises (100-500 employees) and lastly, Small businesses with fewer than 100 employees will have up to two years to comply. The new labour code introduces a 4-day workweek, which  allows employees three days off and is required to work 12 hours per day.^[6]

Nevertheless, gig workers face a lot of issues such as The Industrial Relations Code 2020, provisions that may make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers, which undermine job stability. To further, extended work such as 12 hours necessitate stringent enforcement of overtime pay and monitoring to prevent worker exploitation. Although they have some benefits as independent contractors like in the company, the disadvantages of their services outweigh the advantages. They are not provided social security benefits, lacking Inclusivity, income benefits, health security and treated like independent contractors. Long working hours, lack of job security, social isolation, potential for exploitation and inconsistent income due to fluctuations in demand are major issues with them. Social security programs such as pensions, health insurance and unemployment services do not cover these workers.      

                                                V. CONCLUSION

To simplify and modernize regulatory provisions for all independent contractors and employees, new labour code presented by the all state and union territories In the month of March, 2025, which is helpful in enhancing trade and investment including ease of doing business in India including from the perspective of securing gig workers protection. This article with the help of analyzing issues which need to foster changes to  Consolidating, modernizing,  and extending social security for gig workers. The government should make a separate effort to reinforce gig  worker rights while enhancing gig economy productivity in India. Although Gig workers have a huge contribution in the gig economy, the current legislation is  not sufficient to help gig workers so they  face current difficulties in connection with companies. Gig workers frequently do not have job security and may be deactivated or dismissed by platforms with little ways to appeal. Most of them lack access to healthcare, retirement plans, or other employee benefits, which leaves them financially exposed. The legal categorization of gig workers as independent contractors leaves them devoid of any legal protection as laborers are provided under certain acts. The government must think about the meditation process, because once they sign on agreements with companies on individual arbitration clause then the door of court will  closed for gig workers and the arbitral Tribunal have not all and proper authority to deal with all issues in case of gig workers rights and provisions which falls under the public policy, however the many provisions on gig workers are still not clear in many indian legislations so that they give protections to gig workers.

^[1] See Abhijinan Jha,  Unilateral Appointment of Arbitrator(s)- Varying approaches taken by Indian Courts, 13 Dec. 2023, <https://www.azbpartners.com/bank/unilateral-appointment-of-arbitrators-varying-approaches-taken-by-indian-courts/>  visited on 6 Feb 2025.

^[2] Centrotrade Minerals & Metal Inc. v. Hindustan Copper Ltd., (2017) 2 SCC 22.

^[3] PASL Wind Solutions (P) Ltd. v. GE Power Conversion (India) (P) Ltd., (2021) 7 SCC 1.

^[4] Implementation of Labour Codes, Year End Review 2024 – Ministry of Labour and Employment, press bureau of india, <https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2088563>  (feb 17, 2025).

^[5] Adv Tanvi Malik, Rules On New Labour Code 2025, Sharks of Law, <https://www.sharksoflaw.com/blog-detail/rules-on-new-labour-code-2025>, (19 April, 2025)

^[6] Ibid.