NEW LABOUR CODES INTRODUCED (India)

Background
In its effort to streamline the myriad labour laws in the country, India has decided to unify its labour laws into four primary laws (the “Labour Codes”). In 2019, the first of these Labour Codes, the Code on Wages was passed by the Parliament of India (please refer to our September 2019 newsletter for more details). The COVID-19 situation has given a thrust to legislative reforms and the remaining three codes, Code on Social Security (“SS Code”), Industrial Relations Code (“IR Code”) and Occupation Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (“OSHW Code”) have received the President’s assent on 28 September 2020. The Labour Codes will become effective from the date notified in the Official Gazette and may come into effect in parts on different dates.

The SS Code, IR Code and OSHW Code will collectively subsume and replace twenty-five extant legislations, notable among these are the Employee State Insurance Act, Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, Maternity Benefit Act, Payment of Gratuity Act, Industrial Disputes Act, Factories Act and the Contract Labour (Abolition and Regulation) Act.

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