Employment Laws

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 ("OSH Code") received the President's assent on September 28, 2020 along with two other codes, all of which are yet to be notified by the Government. The OSH Code has subsumed several key pieces of legislation on the working conditions of labour and consolidated it into one comprehensive act, including, inter alia, the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, the Factories Act, 1948, etc. ......

On September 28, 2020, three new labour law codes namely, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020 ("Codes"), received the President’s assent. ......

Time and again the question has come before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India ("Supreme Court") on how to determine whether a person is an employee or not. Through various judgments the Supreme Court has laid out the tests to determine whether a person could be said to be in the employ of the employer....

Aimed at boosting the economy amidst the ongoing Covid – 19 pandemic, several States in India have recently come out with ordinance and notifications containing exemptions from compliance with certain labour laws. Such suspension has been sought to give more flexibility to businesses and employers in order to help curb the effects of the Covid – 19 mandated lockdown....

The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 ("Act") as a labour welfare legislation was enacted to provide a monetary benefit to an employee after retirement. It lays down the rules and regulations for applicability, calculation and payment of gratuity to employees engaged in factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway companies, shops or other establishments. ...

The Sexual Harassment (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 ("Act") defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome act or behaviour (whether directly or by implication) namely, physical contact and advances, or demand or request for sexual favours, or making sexually coloured remarks, or showing pornography, or any unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature....

In a recent judgment delivered by Hon’ble Judges U. U. Lalit and Indu Malthotra, in the case of M/s. Pawan Hans Limited & Ors. Vs. Aviation Karmachari Sanghatana & Ors., the Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court“) has held that employees who draw wages/salaries whether directly or indirectly from a company, are entitled to provident fund benefits under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (“Act“)....

Labour laws in India have traditionally been governed by multifarious and fragmented legislations, both at the central and state level. With a view to harmonising and consolidating the various legislations pertaining to wages, the Ministry of Labour and Employment (“Ministry“) first introduced the Code on Wages Act in Lok Sabha on August 10, 2017, which lapsed. The Code on Wages Act, 2019 was reintroduced in the Lok Sabha on July 23, 2019 and gained presidential assent on August 08, 2019 after getting passed in both houses of the Parliament....

The gig economy in India has been growing at breakneck speed. A recent study ‘Professional Gig Economy 2018-19 Report Card’ undertaken by Flexing It, a gig platform has revealed that as many as 72% of all gig projects were in large corporates and professional services firms in 2018-19 compared with 52% two years back. Plus, most of the professional gig economy segments have seen growth double in two years....