In what comes across as an unprecedented development in the Indian Labour Jurisprudence, a single Judge Bench of the Karnataka High Court in judgment titled Miss X v. ICC and Ors., WP 8127/2019 dated 30.09.2024 has held that the Driver Partners onboarded by OLA are ’employees’ for the purposes of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. While doing so, the Court also directed ANI Technologies (the Proprietor of OLA) to pay a compensation of Rs.5 lakhs to the woman who allegedly faced sexual harassment at the hands of the driver in a cab ride back in 2019.
During the arguments, it was contended from OLA’s side that these Driver Partners are “independent contractors” upon whom no control and supervision is exercised upon by OLA to the extent that the vehicles are also owned by the drivers only. It was further argued that these Driver Subscribers had no fixed working hours and timings and they were not exclusively working for OLA; they were free to work for competing businesses...
