Gig workers are mushrooming across the globe. In the US, young and energetic men and women use their spare time to use their personal cars as taxis. Uber has been at the forefront of encouraging such productive use of spare time. So much so, it has lauded the Australian initiative codified in the ‘closing the loopholes Bill’. India should take a leaf out of the Australian law once it is signed as such. Europe has blazed the trail already by recognizing the right to disconnect among others.
The Australian law in the making gives thumbs up to the right to disconnect which consists in gig workers having the right to say no to working at ungodly hours as well as on holidays and weekends by disconnecting or logging out.
Gig workers are supposed to be on call which expression has sadly come to mean at the beck and call of their numerous opportunity providers. Doctor in Indian cities especially surgeons are supposed to wake up from their sleep at ungodly hours and respond to hospitals that sends out of the urgent message.
Of course, there is mutuality of interest in such an arrangement — hospitals not having to keep a large number of doctors and surgeons on their payrolls which is expensive and doctors not able to afford their own clinics economically able to tap into the infrastructure of big hospitals without being tied to them.
Gig workers are more common in the Information Technology (IT) sector which is why they are also known as cyber nomads with a touch of condescension. It is for a techie to choose if she wants to be tied exclusively to a company in return for an assured salary with annual and retirement benefits or be an independent contractor working for whoever choosing to avail her services on mutually acceptable terms.
As one’s expertise grows and comes to be recognised in the industry, greater the confidence in the individual to pitch her own tent. Incidentally, it may be mentioned the Indian IT biggies especially Infosys have a sneaking suspicion that in a milieu of Work From Home (WFH), employees virtually become gig workers by moonlighting on the side and sly. Be that as it may. But for an employee there is an issue of morality and ethics— if she should work for others on the sly. The more honourable course for her is to declare that she is indeed a cyber nomad.
Right To Disconnect
Coming back to right to disconnect, there is no reason why independent contractors should be at the beck and call of their benefactors though with hospitals there is a compelling case for such attitude especially in emergencies. A doctor, more so a surgeon, cannot shy away from an emergency whereas a car owner, keeping Uber app in one pocket and Ola app in another should have no qualms about disconnecting one or both.
Parenthetically, it may be pointed out that under the Indian income tax law, while salary of regular employees is taxed as such i.e., as income from salaries, gig workers’ remuneration is taxed as from business or profession where there is a great deal of latitude in booking expenses and bring tax liability to the minimum at the end of the day. The salaried class enjoys no such room for manoeuvre. Be that as it may again.
With the advent of service providing apps, be they ride hailing apps like Ola and Uber or niche area service providers like Urban Company, it has been a rewarding experience for both consumers and the service providers. A carpenter or plumber doesn’t mind sharing a good sliver of his earnings from a household because he is assured of being kept busy throughout the working day just like a cab driver. Households too lap up such gig workers as they are spared of the burden of haggling with them if they were to independently look for and hire them.
It is hoped the Indian government makes a comprehensive law in this regard with feather touch regulations and not with a sledge hammer.
—The author, S Murlidharan, is a Chartered Accountant and writes on tax, finance and legal matters. The views expressed are personal.
(Edited by : C H Unnikrishnan)
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