Laws Library

Know the codes that govern you.

Quick references for HR teams — the four consolidated Labour Codes, and the rates and calendars you reach for most often.

A shelf of worn nineteenth-century Law Reports volumes — Annexure E The statute book only grows — 29 central laws consolidated, every state's rules still to track.

The Four Labour Codes

29 central laws, consolidated into four.

All four Codes stand enacted; rollout awaits final state rules in several states. The changes below are the ones that affect employer outgo and licensing most.

Code · 2019

Code on Wages

Consolidates minimum wages, payment of wages, bonus and equal remuneration. Key change: the uniform 50% "wages" definition, which raises PF and gratuity outgo for allowance-heavy CTC structures.

Code · 2020

Industrial Relations Code

Trade unions, standing orders and industrial disputes. Key change: retrenchment permission threshold moves to 300 workers; fixed-term employment recognised with gratuity on pro-rata basis.

Code · 2020

Code on Social Security

EPF, ESI, gratuity, maternity benefit and — for the first time — social security for gig and platform workers, funded partly by aggregator contributions.

Code · 2020

OSH & Working Conditions Code

Replaces the Factories Act, CLRA and 11 other laws. Key change: single registration and licence for establishments, and CLRA threshold raised to 50 contract workers.

Working References