Article
Extending ‘employee’ status to Gig Workers – Implications of employee misclassification
The article in this issue of Corporate Amicus discusses a recent Karnataka High Court decision on the question of whether there exists an employer-employee relationship between the cab-hailing service provider (cab aggregator) and its driver-partners. Considering the commercial terms of the Agreement, which revealed the aggregator’s extensive involvement in business management, supervision, and control, and the fulfilment of the POSH Act’s objectives, the Court held that driver-subscribers qualify as employees for the Act’s purposes. Elaborately analysing the decision, the authors (Jivesh Chandrayan, Pooja Vijayvargiya and Bhagwati Tiwari) raise a pertinent question - if the driver-partners can be considered employees for the purposes of PoSH Act, basis the level of control and supervision wielded by the cab aggregator, why not for the purposes of employee compensation, state insurance, provident fund, gratuity, leaves, protection as a workman, etc.
Notifications and Circulars
- Guidelines for investments in overseas mutual funds/ unit trusts by Indian mutual funds notified
- ‘Know Your Customer’ Master Direction, 2016 amended
- Sovereign Green Bonds designated for non-resident investment under ‘Fully Accessible Route’
- Reporting of Foreign Exchange Transactions to Trade Repository
- Reclassification of FPI investment into FDI – Procedure amended by SEBI and RBI
- Foreign Portfolio Investors – Simplified registration process introduced
- Master Circular for Credit Rating Agencies amended
Ratio decidendi
- Property of Personal Guarantors cannot be sold under SARFAESI Act during interim moratorium period under IBC Section 96 – NCLT Mumbai
- Exercising unilateral control over the selection of Arbitrators violates the principles of impartiality and fairness – Supreme Court
- Application for extension of time under Section 29A(4) of Arbitration Act can be filed even after expiry of period for making arbitral award – Supreme Court
- Employment law – Time served on duty is immaterial if the appointment is not as per law – Patna High Court
- Sale of corporate debtor as a going concern under IBC liquidation regulations takes precedence over scheme of compromise or arrangement under Section 230 of Companies Act, 2013 – NCLAT Chennai
News Nuggets
- No NOC required for release of 1% security deposit made with stock exchanges
- Social media giant imposed a penalty of INR 213 crore by Competition Commission
- 45 days shelf life mandatory for food products sold via e-commerce
- SEBI mulls expanding the ambit of unpublished price sensitive information
- eShram portal introduced for the unorganised workers
- Adani Energy issued a notice by SEBI for wrongful categorisation of investors
