Employment Laws

The Apex Court, vide its order dated December 15, 2020, in Steel Authority of India Limited vs. Raghbendra Singh & Ors , propounded that there does not exist any constraint regarding withholding an employee’s gratuity against the recovery of dues from such employee, including penal rent, which in the instant case pertained to the overstay by the employee in official company provided accommodation. ......

While the Code on Wages, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as “the Code”) received Presidential assent on August 08 2019 , the Government was yet to notify the effective date of the Code coming into force. The Code has unified and subsumed four different acts, namely the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (collectively “Existing Legislation”). ......

The Social Security Code, 2020 ("SS Code") has been passed by both houses of the Parliament and received Presidential assent on September 28, 2020. The SS Code has been enacted to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security with the goal to extend social security to all employees and workers either in the organised or unorganised or any other sectors. ......

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....