Labor And the Employment Ministry on Wednesday released draft rules for 4 new labor codes on salary, industrial relations, social security and safety, health and working conditions. Opinions have been sought on these from the general public and stakeholders. Only after the implementation of these rules will the new labor laws become fully effective. Among the 4 labor laws, the notification of Wage Code 2019, Industrial Relations Code 2020, Social Security Code 2020 and Code of Safety, Health and Working Conditions 2020 has been issued on 21 November itself.
Government trying to implement new labor laws from April 1, 2026
The government aims to have all these codes implemented simultaneously across the country from April 1, 2026. Since labor matters are included in the concurrent list of the Constitution, it is necessary that rules should be made for them at the state level also. Therefore, state governments are also in the process of publishing these rules officially. The Union Labor Ministry has given 30 days time on the Industrial Relations Code and 45 days time on the remaining 3 labor codes to the stakeholders to give suggestions. This will enable the industry and other parties to obtain clear and practical guidance.
Provision of many facilities for workers in new laws
After the implementation of the draft rules, facilities like mandatory appointment letters for workers, free medical check-up for workers aged 40 years and above, equal pay for equal work and equal opportunities for women in different shifts will be ensured. The government aims to increase the scope of labor protection, ease business operations and promote worker-centric labor environment with the implementation of these four codes.
Target to provide social security to 100 crore workers by March 2026
Union Labor Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said in December that draft rules for the new labor codes would be published soon. He had said that the Center and the states had earlier published draft rules but now there is a need to update them as per the current times and needs. Mandaviya had said that the government wants to achieve the target of providing social security to 100 crore workers by March 2026, which currently stands at 94 crore. Social security coverage has increased to more than 64 percent in 2025 whereas it was only 19 percent in 2015.
Reduction cannot be more than 50%
In the new labor laws, limits have been set regarding deductions made in the salary of employees. Under the new laws, the deductions made for any employee should not exceed 50% of his salary. These deductions can be less than 50%. This means that the employee’s salary will include only basic salary, DA and other allowances and all these will be a maximum of 50% of CTC. Whereas the remaining 50% will include HRA, bonus, commission, PF and other things. If these allowances exceed the fixed limit of 50 percent, then whatever amount is extra will automatically be added to the salary.
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