The government on Friday implemented the four new labour codes, which replace the existing 29 laws, despite neither the Centre nor the state governments having finalised the rules that would bring them into force.
The ministry of labour and employment notified the Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Code on Social Security and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code, passed by Parliament five years ago.
However, some provisions of these codes have been kept in abeyance, like the one related to the constitution of the central advisory board under the Code on Wages. The board was mandated to advise the government on wage-related matters, including the fixing of the minimum floor wage.
The Code on Social Security, which seeks to repeal the EPFO Act, has also been put on hold.
Labour is a concurrent subject, and the Centre and the states have to frame the laws and rules. So far, neither has notified the rules.
“As of today, the notification of the codes means nothing. They cannot be enforced till rules are notified,” said a retired bureaucrat.
In 2020, the ministry of labour and employment had notified the draft rules, seeking feedback from the public and labour unions. The states were asked to pre-publish their draft rules.
According to the ministry’s annual report for 2024-25, 34 states and UTs had pre-published the draft rules for the Code on Wages, 33 states for the OSHWC Code, and 32 states and UTs for the Industrial Relations Code and Social Security Code. (See chart)
Bengal has not published draft rules for any of the codes.
Labour economist K.R. Shyam Sundar, an adjunct professor at MDI Gurgaon, said the labour codes, as gazetted, would come into force either fully or partially subject to the notification of rules by the Centre and states.
“What about the states that have not notified draft rules? Will it mean non-implementation of the codes in those states? How the central government is going to address such an issue is unclear,” Sundar said.
He said the framing of codes had been more of a political agenda than a genuine attempt to address technical issues of labour welfare and ease of doing business.
“The codes are complex and difficult. Transition from the old regime to the new one will be quite challenging. For example, in the IR Code, the labour courts are abolished while the tribunal has been retained as a monopoly institution. Thousands of cases are pending, which need speedy disposal under the complex procedure of the IR code,” Sundar said.
He wondered if all unorganised sector workers would be registered afresh under the new codes, which would be time-consuming. He said the initial two-year period would be spent in experimentation rather than implementation.
Ten central trade unions, including Congress-affiliated INTUC, CPM-affiliated Citu and CPI-affiliated AITUC, have been opposing these laws from the beginning.
They find the provision enabling firms with up to 300 employees to fire workers without the state government’s approval problematic. At present, this provision is available to small firms with 100 or fewer workers.
The new wage code provides a “floor-level wage” that is already below the legally enforceable minimum wage in most states. The OSHWC Code exempts labour contractors engaging up to 50 workers from its ambit. Similarly, the Social Security Code provides for social security measures but does not clearly mention the financial obligation of the Centre.
The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh has also expressed reservations about certain provisions in the IR and OSHWC codes.