1.       The Trade Unions Act, 1926;

2.       The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946; and

3.       The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

1.       The Payment of Wages Act, 1936;

2.       The Minimum Wages Act, 1948;

3.       The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and

4.       The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976.

1.       The Employee’s Compensation Act, 1923;

2.       The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948;

3.       The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952;

4.       The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959;

5.       The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961;

6.       The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972;

7.       The Cine-Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981;

8.       The Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996; and

9.       The Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008.

1.       The Factories Act, 1948;

2.       The Plantations Labour Act, 1951;

3.       The Mines Act, 1952;

4.       The Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955;

5.       The Working Journalists (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Act, 1958;

6.       The Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961;

7.       The Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1966;

8.       The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970;

9.       The Sales Promotion Employees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976;

10.    The Inter-state Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979

11.    The Cine-Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1981;

12.    The Dock Workers Safety (Safety, Health, and Welfare) Act, 1986; and

13.    The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1966.

Revised definition of wages: Under the new definition, 3 (three) components have been expressly included in the definition, i.e.: (a) basic pay; (b) dearness allowance; and (c) retaining allowance, if any. Further, components such as; (a) value of house accommodation or supply light, water, medical attendance; (b) travelling concession; and (c) any commission payable on promotion of sale or business, which were earlier part of the definition of wages under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 have been expressly excluded. This may have an impact on the computation of retrenchment compensation, subsistence allowance and compensation for lay-off. The definition also clarifies that in the event that any ‘remuneration in kind’ is offered to an employee, the value of such ‘remuneration in kind’ will also form a part of ‘wages’ to the extent such value in kind does not exceed 15% of the total wages. It is further stated that certain excluded components will still be factored by employer for the purposes of making salary payments and ensuring equal wages to all genders.

Novel definition for ‘employee’: In addition to the definition of ‘worker’, the IR Code introduces a separate definition of an ‘employee’ which includes every person employed in an industrial establishment, irrespective of whether they hold a position of supervisory or managerial capacity. Hence, while every ‘worker’ could be an ‘employee’ under the IR Code, every ‘employee’ may not necessarily be considered a ‘worker’. While the intent of the law appears to offer larger labour protections to all categories of persons employed in an industrial establishment, employers may need to tread with caution in assessing and determining which provisions of the applicable Labour Codes would extend to ‘employees’, and which provisions would be limited to ‘workers’.

Parity of benefits for fixed-term employees: The IR Code retains the definition of fixed term employment which was previously added to the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central Rules, 1946 via an amendment in 2018 as well as in some State-level rules. This provision maintains that fixed-term employees will receive all benefits afforded to permanent workers, including leave, medical, and social security. Having said that, the IR Code goes one step further in including provision for gratuity for fixed term employees, where a fixed-term employee would now be eligible for gratuity if they render services under a contract for a period of 1 year.

Changes to industrial relations: Industrial establishments, particularly factories, employing 300 or more workers (which is an increase from the previous threshold of 100 workers), must now secure prior permission of the Central/State Government, as appropriate, for initiating lay-off or retrenchment of workers and closure of establishments. Additionally, a worker re-skilling fund is proposed under the IR Code, where employers are required to contribute an amount equivalent to 15 (fifteen) days’ of wages last drawn or such other number of days as may be notified by the Central Government, for every retrenched worker. This is in addition to retrenchment compensation, and this amount will be credited to the worker’s account within 45 days of retrenchment. This is likely to pose significant financial burden on employers. Further, establishments employing 20 or more workers are required to adopt a grievance redressal mechanism in the manner prescribed under the IR Code.

Recognition of trade unions: In terms of recognition of trade unions, earlier, the concept of recognition of trade unions was not conceived, barring certain States such as Maharashtra and Telangana. The IR Code, however, includes provisions for recognition of trade unions as negotiating unions and mandates the creation of one such negotiating union or negotiating council in each establishment. Where there are multiple trade unions, the one having 51% (fifty-one percent) or more workers of the establishment as members will be recognised as the sole negotiating union of the establishment.

Revised employee headcount threshold for standing orders: The IR Code provides that standing orders will be made applicable to all industrial establishments employing 300 or more workers, which is a deviation from earlier laws, that provided for standing orders to be applicable only to industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers. It may be noted that this revised provision could conflict with exemptions presently provided to certain sectors such as Information Technology/Information Technology Enabled Services establishments in Karnataka, from applicability of standing orders provisions. Whether these exemptions will continue to remain applicable remains to be observed.

Fixed floor wage: A national floor wage has been introduced, which the Central Government will fix, based on workers’ minimum living standards, which may differ based on geographical location. States are required to set their minimum wages at or above this floor wage. The Wage Code also casts an obligation on the Central government to fix the floor wage in consultation with State Governments and on the advice of advisory board, if required.

Time of payment of wages: Employers are mandated to pay wages to all employees within prescribed timelines for each category of wage period, and complete payment towards their full and final settlement within 2 working days of termination, resignation, or retrenchment, as the case may be.

Deduction from wages: Permissible deductions under the Wage Code include fines imposed on employees, deduction for absence from duty, deductions for damage to or loss of goods or money in the employee’s custody, deductions for accommodation, amenities or services supplied by the employer, but total deductions will not exceed 50% of the employee’s wages in any wage period. This uniform rule is applicable to all employees.

Eligibility for statutory bonus: Employees earning up to the wage ceiling notified by the appropriate government and having worked at least 30 days in an accounting year would be eligible for a minimum bonus of 8.33% of their wages or INR 100, whichever is higher.

Compliance and inspection: Employers must maintain prescribed registers, returns, and notices for compliance. The Wage Code has introduced the Inspector-cum-Facilitator for advisory roles and digital inspections.

Offences and penalties: Penalties have been specified for non-compliance and compounding of offences have been allowed to reduce litigation.

Platform worker, gig worker and unorganised worker: The SS Code recognises gig[1], platform[2] and un-organised workers[3], making a clear distinction of such workers from regular employees and looks at extending social security benefits to such workers.

Wages: The new definition of ‘wages’ includes all remuneration paid by way of salary, allowances or any other component expressed in terms of money such as basic pay, dearness allowance, retaining allowance, if any, and culls out specific exclusions. These revisions are likely to impact compensation restructuring and computation of employment benefits specifically those under the SS Code, such as PF contributions.

The rest of the sections expand upon definitions, registrations and constitution of social security organisations such as Board of Trustees of the Employees’ Provident Fund (to be called the Central Board), the Employees’ State Insurance (“ESI”) Corporation (to be called the Corporation), the National Social Security Board for unorganised workers, State Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Boards, and State Building Workers’ Welfare Boards.

Limitation of 5 years for PF and ESI proceedings: No proceeding can be initiated after 5 years from the date of cause of action in respect of applicability of PF/ESI provisions or non-payment of dues.

Common crèche facility: SS Code permits employers to utilise a common crèche facility belonging to government, municipality, non-governmental organisation, or private entity. Additionally, a group of establishments may combine their resources to establish a common crèche facility in the manner mutually agreed between them.

Compounding of offences: The SS Code introduces compounding of offences in the following manner (albeit with prescribed restrictions): (a) for an offence punishable with fine only: with payment of 50% of the maximum fine provided for that offence; and (b) for an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term which is not more than 1 year along-with fine, with payment of 75% of the maximum fine provided for that offence.

Penalties: While the SS Code imposes harsher penalties than the extant law, it also presents an opportunity for employers to rectify non-compliances prior to initiation of prosecution, through a written direction, which will specify a duration for rectification, and, if the employer complies with the direction within such duration, then the employer will not be prosecuted, subject to certain conditions.

Additionally, the provisions of the OSH Code pertaining to engagement of contract labours are applicable to establishments which employ at least 50 (earlier, 20) contract labourers in the preceding 12 months. The OSH Code expands the definition of contract labour to include inter-state migrant workers within its purview

Change in hours of work and leave entitlement: A uniform daily working hour limit has been prescribed, stipulating that no worker in any factory or establishment employing 10 or more workers would be required to work for more than 8 hours in a day. Further, the period of work in each day will not exceed the hours prescribed by the appropriate government. The employers are also mandated to obtain consent of workers before requiring such workers to work overtime.

Additionally, the OSH Code has reduced the eligibility threshold for paid leave. Workers who have worked for 180 days (earlier, 240 days) or more in a calendar year will be entitled to leave with wages. Further, workers will be entitled to on-demand leave encashment at the end of each calendar year if they have unutilised accrued leaves; and will also allowed to encash any leaves accrued in excess of 30 days in a year.

Prohibition of employment of contract labour: Employment of contract labour in core activities of an establishment, would be prohibited, except in cases where such activities are ordinarily performed through contractors, do not require full-time workers, or involve sudden workload surges. Non-compliance may attract statutory penalties, necessitating establishments to reassess reliance on third-party personnel for core functions.

Removal of restriction on employing women: Women employees may be engaged for work before 6:00 a.m. and after 7:00 p.m., provided their consent is obtained and subject to conditions relating to safety, working hours, holidays, and other conditions observed by the employer and as per prescribed safeguards notified by the appropriate government.

Unified registration: Consolidating multiple registration requirements under the earlier laws, a unified registration process has been introduced, where employers will be required to submit an electronic application before the registering officer within 60 days from the date on which the OSH Code becomes applicable to their establishment.