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ARTICLE · 30 APRIL 2024

The New Labor Codes – Revolutionary Change Or Repeated Mistake?

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A well-balanced mutually conducive relation between an employer and employee is necessary for the effective functioning of an organization.

IndiaEmployment and HR
Dylan Sharma
Dylan Sharma
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1. Introduction

A well-balanced mutually conducive relation between an employer and employee is necessary for the effective functioning of an organization. Recognizing this and an ever-growing emphasis on the ease of doing business, the Government decided to consolidate 29 existing labor laws into 4 labor codes ("Codes") – Code on Wages, 20191 ("Wage Code"), Code on Social Security, 20202 ("SSC"), Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions, 20203 ("OSHWC"), and Industrial Relations Code, 20204 ("IRC"). The primary intention was to simplify, rationalize and update decades-old statutes by removing multiplicity of definitions and compliances and redundant procedures. Therefore, the Codes aimed to consolidate and amend the extant legislations. To consolidate, the amendments fail to address loopholes in the prior legal regime, including the ambiguity regarding the application of various provisions to "employees" and "workers". The resultant lack of

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