Understanding the New Labour Codes: What HR Professionals Need to Know

A descriptive presentation has been prepared based on the four Labour codes approved in parliament. This presentation will help HR professionals become aware and acquainted with the Labour codes. I would like to inform the HR fraternity of this group that all existing Labour laws will remain; however, a few sections have been subsumed from the existing Labour laws, and new sections have been added in the Labour codes bill.

Now all these four Labour codes have been passed by both houses of Parliament. These codes will be sent for approval to the President of India. Subsequently, the date of implementation (effective date) will be published in the official gazette of India.

This PowerPoint presentation (PPT) is based on old drafts of the four Codes prepared last year. Several recommendations of the Parliament Committee were accepted thereafter and incorporated into the revised Bills of 2020.

Kindly find attached the updated PPT.

I request you to please share a document that clearly shows the changes brought by the codes against the existing provisions and what we will actually have to do for the implementation of the changes.

Implementation of New Labour Codes in India

It's learned that the Government of India is working on formulating the rules to be issued under these codes for their implementation. Once the rules have been drafted and finalized, the above codes, along with the rules, shall come into force on such a date as may be appointed by the government by notification in the Official Gazette. It's unlikely that the government would engage in any dialogue with representatives, industries, or organizations/unions in this regard.

According to the reports now circulating, the draft rules of the three newly notified codes are expected to be circulated during November 2020 for public suggestions and views, inviting objections if any. It's also learned that the government is aiming to implement all four labor codes in one go by the end of December 2020, with which these codes will be put into effect. However, it's hoped that it will be effective with a prospective date and not from a retrospective date.

President's Assent to the Three Codes

The President gave his assent to the three codes which were passed in both Houses of Parliament during the last week of September 2020. These have also been notified/published in the Gazette on 29th September 2020.

As pointed out in the above post, after the framing of rules, the Union Government will notify the date from which these Codes will become enforceable.