Hyderabad, Sept. 20 -- Nikhil fills paper bags for orders at a Zepto store in Hyderabad's Miyapur. One afternoon he lay down during his break. "I took a nap during my break, and my manager deemed that reason enough to suppress my ID," said Nikhil.

Suppressing an ID means a worker's login stops working. No login, no shifts, no earnings. Nikhil was, for practical purposes, out of the job. He still turns up. "But they still let me do flex work," he said, referring to the flexible, part-time option Zepto offers in its parcelling section.

He was taken off the rolls and kept on the floor.

At the store, Sanjay, a human resource (HR) representative at the grocery delivery app, rejected the account outright. "Nikhil is misguided. There is no su...