Workers' Rights

If you work in India, your minimum wage, hours, and pay protection sit under the four Labour Codes — enforceable from 21 November 2025 — Code on Wages 2019, Industrial Relations Code 2020, Social Security Code 2020, and OSH Code 2020. The Centre notified the Code on Wages (Central) Rules, 2026 on 8 May 2026. The old Acts (Minimum Wages 1948, Payment of Wages 1936, Industrial Disputes 1947, Factories 1948) have largely been repealed at the central level, with their substantive protections re-enacted in the Codes. State rules are mixed — several states have notified final rules, many are operating under draft rules, and the residual machinery of the old Acts still runs in parallel during transition. EPF gives you 12% + 12% retirement savings, gratuity kicks in at 5 years (now waived for fixed-term workers from day one under the SS Code), and the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 guarantees 26 weeks of paid leave (re-enacted in SS Code ss. 62-68). Retrenchment in establishments of 300+ workers requires prior government approval under the IR Code — the threshold was raised from 100 in the old Industrial Disputes Act.