Industrial Relations Code, 2020
[ (1) The following enactments shall stand repealed on and from the date appointed in the notification issued under sub-section (3) of section 1, namely:— (a) the Trade Unions Act, 1926 (16 of 1926); (b) the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 (20 of 1946); and (c) the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947). (1A) Notwithstanding such repeal under sub-section (1), the functioning of the Tribunals and statutory authorities functioning under the Acts so repealed shall continue to function till such Tribunals and other statutory authorities becomes functional under this Code.] (2) Notwithstanding such repeal under sub-section (1), anything done or any action taken under the provisions of the enactments so repealed including any rule, regulation, notification, nomination, appointment, order or direction made thereunder shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of this Code and shall be in force to the extent they are not contrary to the provisions of this Code. (3) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (2), the provisions of section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 shall apply to the repeal of such enactments. THE FIRST SCHEDULE [See sections 2 (zj), 30 (1), (6) and 101 (1)] MATTERS TO BE PROVIDED IN STANDING ORDERS UNDER THIS CODE 1. Classification of workers, whether permanent, temporary, apprentices, probationers, badlis or fixed term employment. 2. Manner of intimating to workers periods and hours of work, holidays, pay-days and wage rates. 3. Shift working. 4. Attendance and late coming. 5. Conditions of, procedure in applying for, and the authority which may grant leave and holidays. 6. Requirement to enter premises by certain gates, and liability to search. 7. Closing and reporting of sections of the industrial establishment, temporary stoppages of work and the rights and liabilities of the employer and workers arising therefrom. 8. Termination of employment, and the notice thereof to be given by employer and workers. 9. Suspension or dismissal for misconduct, and acts or omissions which constitute misconduct. 10. Means of redress for workers against unfair treatment or wrongful exactions by the employer or his agents or servants. 11. Any other matter which may be specified by the appropriate Government by notification. THE SECOND SCHEDULE [See sections 2 (zo), 84, 86 (5) and 101(1)] UNFAIR LABOUR PRACTICES I. ON THE PART OF EMPLOYERS AND TRADE UNIONS OF EMPLOYERS (1) To interfere with, restrain from, or coerce, workers in the exercise of their right to organise, form, join or assist a Trade Union or to engage in concerted activities for the purposes of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection, that is to say,— (a) threatening workers with discharge or dismissal, if they join a Trade Union; (b) threatening a lock-out or closure, if a Trade Union is organised; (c) granting wage increase to workers at crucial periods of Trade Union organisation, with a view to undermining the efforts of the Trade Union organisation. (2) To dominate, interfere with or contribute support, financial or otherwise, to any Trade Union, that is to say,— (a) an employer taking an active interest in organising a Trade Union of his workers; and (b) an employer showing partiality or granting favour to one of several Trade Unions attempting to organise his workers or to its members, where such a Trade Union is not a recognised Trade Union. (3) To establish employer sponsored Trade Unions of workers. (4) To encourage or discourage membership in any Trade Union by discriminating against any worker, that is to say,— (a) discharging or punishing a worker, because he urged other workers to join or organise a Trade Union; (b) discharging or dismissing a worker for taking part in any strike (not being a strike which is deemed to be an illegal strike under this Code); (c) changing seniority rating of workers because of Trade Union activities; (d) refusing to promote workers to higher posts on account of their Trade Union activities; (e) giving unmerited promotions to certain workers with a view to creating discord amongst other workers, or to undermine the strength of their Trade Union; (f) discharging office-bearers or active members of the Trade Union on account of their Trade Union activities. (5) To discharge or dismiss workers,— (a) by way of victimisation; (b) not in good faith, but in the colourable exercise of the employer's rights; (c) by falsely implicating a worker in a criminal case on false evidence or on concocted evidence; (d) for patently false reasons; (e) on untrue or trumped up allegations of absence without leave; (f) in utter disregard of the principles of natural justice in the conduct of domestic enquiry or with undue haste; (g) for misconduct of a minor or technical character, without having any regard to the nature of the particular misconduct or the past record or service of the worker, thereby leading to a disproportionate punishment. (6) To abolish the work of a regular nature being done by workers, and to give such work to contractors as a measure of breaking a strike. (7) To transfer a worker mala fide from one place to another, under the guise of following management policy. (8) To insist upon individual workers, who are on a legal strike to sign a good conduct bond, as a precondition to allowing them to resume work. (9) To show favouritism or partiality to one set of workers regardless of merit. (10) To employ workers as badli workers, casuals or temporaries and to continue them as such for years, with the object of depriving them of the status and privileges of permanent workers. (11) To discharge or discriminate against any worker for filing charges or testifying against an employer in any enquiry or proceeding relating to any industrial dispute. (12) To recruit worker during a strike which is not an illegal strike. (13) Failure to implement award, settlement or agreement. (14) To indulge in acts of force or violence. (15) To refuse to bargain collectively, in good faith with the recognised Trade Unions. (16) Proposing or continuing a lock-out deemed to be illegal under this Code. II. ON THE PART OF WORKERS AND TRADE UNIONS OF WORKERS (1) To advise or actively support or instigate any strike deemed to be illegal under this Code. (2) To coerce workers in the exercise of their right to self-organisation or to join a Trade Union or refrain from, joining any Trade Union, that is to say— (a) for a Trade Union or its members to picketing in such a manner that non-striking workers are physically debarred from entering the work places; (b) to indulge in acts of force or violence or to hold out threats of intimidation in connection with a strike against non-striking workers or against managerial staff. (3) For a recognised union to refuse to bargain collectively in good faith with the employer. (4) To indulge in coercive activities against certification of a bargaining representative. (5) To stage, encourage or instigate such forms of coercive actions as wilful, "go-slow", squatting on the work premises after working hours or "gherao" of any of the members of the managerial or other staff. Explanation 1.—For the removal of doubts, it is clarified that “go-slow” shall mean an occasion when more than one worker in an establishment conjointly work more slowly and with less effort than usual to try to persuade the employer of the establishment to agree to higher pay or better service condition or such other demand. Explanation 2.—For the purposes of Explanation 1, the expression “usual” shall mean,— (i) where the standard has been specified for a worker for his work either daily, weekly or monthly basis, such work; and (ii) where no such standard has been specified such rate of work which is the average of work in the previous three months calculated on daily or weekly or monthly basis, as the case may be. (6) To stage demonstrations at the residence of the employers or the managerial staff members. (7) To incite or indulge in wilful damage to employer's property connected with the industry. (8) To indulge in acts of force or violence or to hold out threats of intimidation against any worker with a view to prevent him from attending work. THE THIRD SCHEDULE [See sections 40 and 101 (1)] CONDITIONS OF SERVICE FOR CHANGE OF WHICH NOTICE IS TO BE GIVEN 1. Wages, including the period and mode of payment. 2. Contribution paid, or payable, by the employer to any provident fund or pension fund or for the benefit of the workers under any law for the time being in force. 3. Compensatory and other allowances. 4. Hours of work and rest intervals. 5. Leave with wages and holidays. 6. Starting, alteration or discontinuance of shift working otherwise than in accordance with standing orders. 7. Classification by grades. 8. Withdrawal of any customary concession or privilege or change in usage. 9. Introduction of new rules of discipline, or alteration of existing rules, except in so far as they are provided in standing orders. 10. Rationalisation, standardisation or improvement of plant or technique which is likely to lead to retrenchment of workers. 11. Any increase or reduction (other than casual) in the number of persons employed or to be employed in any occupation or process or department or shift, not occasioned by circumstances over which the employer has no control. ———— STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS The Second National Commission on Labour, which submitted its report in June 2002, had recommended that the existing set of labour laws should be broadly amalgamated into the following groups, namely:–– (a) industrial relations; (b) wages; (c) social security; (d) safety; and (e) welfare and working conditions. 2. In pursuance of the recommendations of the said Commission relating to industrial relations and the deliberations made in the tripartite meeting comprising of the Government, employers’ and industry representatives, it has been decided to bring the proposed legislation for amalgamating, simplifying and rationalising the relevant provisions of –– (a) the Trade Unions Act, 1926; (b) the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946; and (c) the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. 3. Accordingly, the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha on the 28 th November, 2019, which was referred to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour for its examination and report. The said Committee submitted its Eighth Report on the 23rd April, 2020 recommending various modifications in the said Bill to give impetus to the economic activity in the country without compromising on the basic aspects of the benefit to workers. Considering the valuable recommendations of the said Parliamentary Standing Committee, the Government proposes to withdraw the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 pending in Parliament and introduce a new Bill, namely, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 with certain modifications. 4. The proposed legislation provides for a broader framework to protect the rights of workers to form unions, to minimise the friction between the employers and workers and to provide provisions for investigation and settlement of industrial disputes. The object of the proposed legislation is to achieve industrial peace and harmony as the ultimate pursuit in resolving industrial disputes and to advance the progress of industry by bringing about the existence of harmony and cordial relationship between the employers and workers. 5. The salient features of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, inter alia, are as follows:— (i) to define “workers” which includes the persons in supervisory capacity getting wages up to eighteen thousand rupees per month or an amount as may be notified by the Central Government from time to time; (ii) to provide for fixed term employment with the objective that the employee gets all the benefits like that of a permanent worker (including gratuity), except for notice period after conclusion of a fixed period, and retrenchment compensation. The employer has been provided with the flexibility to employ workers on fixed term basis on the basis of requirement and without restriction on any sector; (iii) to revise the definition of “industry” that any systematic activity carried on by co-operation between the employer and workers for the production, supply or distribution of goods or services with a view to satisfy human wants or wishes (not being wants or wishes which are merely spiritual or religious in nature) with certain exceptions; (iv) to bring concerted casual leave within the ambit of the definition of strike; (v) to provide the maximum number of members in the Grievance Redressal Committee up to ten in an industrial establishment employing twenty or more workers. There shall be adequate representation of the women workers therein in the proportion of the women workers to the total workers employed in the industrial establishment; (vi) to provide for a new feature of recognition of negotiating union and negotiating council in an industrial establishment by an employer for the purpose of negotiations. The criterion for recognition of negotiating union has been fixed at fifty-one per cent. or more workers on a muster roll of that industrial establishment. As regards negotiating council, a Trade Union having support of every twenty per cent. of workers will get one seat in the negotiating council and the fraction above twenty per cent. shall be disregarded; (vii) to provide for appeal against non-registration or cancellation of registration of Trade Union before the Industrial Tribunal; (viii) to empower the Central Government and the State Governments to recognise a Trade Union or a federation of Trade Unions as the Central Trade Union or State Trade Unions, respectively; (ix) to provide for applicability of threshold of three hundred or more workers for an industrial establishment to obtain certification of standing orders, if the standing order differ from the model standing order made by the Central Government; (x) to provide that if the employer prepares and adopts model standing order of the Central Government with respect to the matters relevant to the employer’s industrial establishment, then the model standing order would be deemed to be certified. Otherwise, the industrial establishment may seek certification of only those clauses which are different from the model standing orders; (xi) to set up Industrial Tribunal consisting of a Judicial Member and an Administrative Member, in place of only Judicial Member who presently presides the Tribunal. For certain specified cases, the matters will be decided by the two-member Tribunal and the remaining shall be decided by single-member Tribunal as may be provided for in the rules; (xii) to set up Industrial Tribunals in the place of existing multiple adjudicating bodies like the Court of Inquiry, Board of Conciliation and Labour Courts; (xiii) to remove the reference system for adjudication of Industrial Disputes, except the reference to the National Industrial Tribunal for adjudication; (xiv) to provide that the commencement of conciliation proceedings shall be deemed to have commenced on the date of the first meeting held by the conciliation officer in an industrial dispute after the receipt of the notice of strike or lock-out by the conciliation officer; (xv) to prohibit strikes and lock-outs in all industrial establishments without giving notice of fourteen days; (xvi) to provide for the obligation on the part of industrial establishments pertaining to mine, factories and plantation having three hundred or more workers to take prior permission of the appropriate Government before lay-off, retrenchment and closure with flexibility to the appropriate Government to increase the threshold to higher numbers, by notification; (xvii) to set up a re-skilling fund for training of retrenched workers. The fund shall, inter alia, consist of the contribution of the employer of an amount equal to fifteen days wages last drawn by the worker immediately before the retrenchment or such other number of days, as may be notified by the Central Government, in case of retrenchment only. The fund shall be utilised by crediting fifteen days wages last drawn by the worker to his account who is retrenched, within forty-five days of the retrenchment as may be provided by rules; (xviii) to provide for compounding of offences by a Gazetted Officer, as the appropriate Government may, by notification, specify, for a sum of fifty per cent. Of the maximum fine provided for such offence punishable with fine only and for a sum of seventy-five per cent. provided for such offence punishable with imprisonment for a term which is not more than one year, or with fine; (xix) to provide for penalties for different types of violations to rationalise with such offences and commensurate with the gravity of the violations; (xx) to empower the appropriate Government to exempt any industrial establishment from any of the provisions of the Code in the public interest for the specified period. 6. The notes on clauses explain in detail the various provisions contained in the Bill. 7. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objectives. SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR. NEW DELHI; The 14th September, 2020.