The Industrial Relations Code, 2020; The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, and the Code on Social Security, 2020 were passed by the Parliament as they received the President Ram Nath Kovind's assent on Monday, 28th September 2020, and were notified in the official gazette the next day. The three labor codes were passed by the Lok Sabha on September 22 and the Rajya Sabha on September 23, during the Opposition boycott over the passage of the agriculture Bills earlier in the session.

These bills were formulated according to the Report and Recommendations of the Second National Commission on Labour set up on 15 October 1999 under the chairmanship of Ravindra Varma which submitted its report to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 29 June 2002.



1. The Industrial Relations Code,2020

The purpose of the Code is to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Trade Unions, conditions of employment in industrial establishment or undertaking, investigation, and settlement of industrial disputes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, covering:- 

1. The Trade Unions Act, 1926; 

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

3. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. 

The Code amends the definition of 'strike' to 'mass casual leave'. If over 50 percent of a company's workers take concerted casual leave, it will be treated as a strike. However, workers cannot go on strike without 60 days' notice.

In a nutshell, it provides a broader framework to protect the rights of workers to form unions, to minimize the friction between the employers and workers, and to provide provisions for investigation and settlement of industrial disputes.



2. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020

The Code intends to amalgamate, simplify and rationalize the relevant provisions of the following thirteen Central labor enactments relating to occupation, safety, health and working conditions of workers, namely:—

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 (Condition 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 Act, 1981;

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

13. The Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996.

The Code covers workers employed in establishments with at least 10 workers or more. The size-based thresholds for the applicability of labor laws help in reducing the compliance burden for small establishments. However, it has been argued that occupational health and safety laws should cover all workers, to protect their basic rights. The Code also bars civil courts from hearing matters under the Code. Therefore, the only judicial recourse for a person aggrieved under the Code is to file a writ petition before the relevant High Court.



3. The Code on Social Security, 2020

The Code aims to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security with the goal to extend social security to all employees and workers either in the organized or unorganized or any other sectors.

The Social Security Code, 2020 brings unorganized sector, gig workers, and platform workers under the ambit of social security schemes, including life insurance and disability insurance, health and maternity benefits, provident fund and skill upgradation, etc. The act amalgamates nine central labor enactments relating to social security, which are as follows:

1. The Employees’ 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 Unorganized Workers' Social Security Act, 2008.

The Code has widened coverage by including the unorganized sector, fixed-term employees and gig workers, platform workers, inter-state migrant workers, etc., in addition to contract employees. Aggregators, meaning “digital intermediaries or a market place for buyers or users of a service to connect with the seller or the service provider”, are specifically required to contribute to the social security fund. It is, therefore, important for establishments to assess the implications and revisit the compliance requirements under the Code.



Therefore, together with the Code on Wages, 2019 that was passed by Parliament last year, the four codes subsume 29 laws and are a part of the government’s labour law reforms agenda. Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar had termed the codes “game changers” while speaking in both the Houses during the discussion on the Bills.

The dates of enforcement of these codes are not yet disclosed and will be notified in the Official Gazette.

For details, click on the following links: 

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 as introduced in Lok Sabha

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 as introduced in Lok Sabha.

The Code on Social Security, 2020 as introduced in Lok Sabha.