“Law is a technique for the regulation of social power.” This is Kahn-Freund’s foundational insight about labour law. Power — the capacity to effectively direct the behaviour of others — is unequally distributed in all societies. In the employment relationship, the employer has vastly greater economic power than the individual worker.

Labour law serves to regulate this power imbalance through three mechanisms:

1. Auxiliary Law: Rules that facilitate and support collective bargaining — recognising trade unions, providing for freedom of association, enabling collective agreements. The state stands back and allows the parties to regulate their own relationships.
2. Restrictive Law: Rules that regulate collective power — including regulation of strikes, picketing, and collective agreements.
3. Protective Law: Rules that directly protect workers — minimum wage, safety standards, hours of work, maternity benefit. These apply regardless of collective bargaining.

Based on Hugh Collins, Marxism and Law (Clarendon Press, 1982). The Marxist critique identifies several key features of labour law under capitalism:

1. Law Legitimises Exploitation: The employment contract appears to be a free agreement between equals, but it actually masks the compulsion of the worker — who must work or starve. The law enforces this contract, thereby legitimising the extraction of surplus value.
2. Freedom of Contract as Fiction: The “freedom” of the worker to contract is illusory — they are not free to not work. The formal equality of the parties (employer and employee both “free” to enter/exit the contract) conceals substantive inequality.
3. Law as Class Instrument: Labour law reflects the interests of the dominant capitalist class. When workers organise, law initially criminalised their combination (Combination Acts 1799–1800 in England). Only after sustained working-class struggle were trade unions legalised. Law changes only when the balance of class forces demands it.
4. Contradictions in Labour Law: Labour law is contradictory — it both protects workers (setting minimum standards) and serves capital (regulating and limiting strikes, enforcing contracts). This contradiction reflects the contradictions of capitalism itself.
5. Social Democracy vs. Marxism: Social democrats believe labour law can be reformed to achieve genuine equality. Marxists argue that only fundamental change in the mode of production can eliminate exploitation — labour law can ameliorate but not eliminate oppression under capitalism.

“Trade Union” means any combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the relations between workmen and employers or between workmen and workmen, or between employers and employers, or for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business, and includes any federation of two or more trade unions.

Section 2(zl), Industrial Relations Code, 2020

Key Characteristics: (a) Combination — an association of persons; (b) Temporary or permanent; (c) Primary purpose — regulating relations between workmen and employers (or workmen-workmen, or employer-employer); (d) Includes federations.

Any dispute between workmen and employers or between workmen and workmen or between employers connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment or conditions of labour of any person or which is connected with an activity of a registered trade union.

Who Can Apply (Section 5): Any seven or more members of a trade union may apply for registration to the Registrar of Trade Unions.

Requirements for Registration (Section 8): The Registrar shall register the trade union if: (a) the application complies with the IRC; (b) the name is not identical or deceptively similar to any existing registered trade union; (c) the trade union has members who are workmen employed in the industry in relation to which the union is being registered.

IRC 2020 Change — Minimum Membership: At least 10% of workers or 100 workers (whichever is less) in the establishment/industry must be members of the trade union for it to be registered. (Older requirement: only 7 members).

Certificate of Registration: On being satisfied, the Registrar issues a Certificate of Registration — making the trade union a body corporate with perpetual succession and common seal, capable of suing and being sued.

One of the most significant innovations of the IRC 2020 is the concept of a Negotiating Union/Negotiating Council for collective bargaining:

Where single union: If there is only one registered trade union operating in an establishment, that union shall be recognised as the Sole Negotiating Union by the employer.

Where multiple unions: Where there are multiple unions:

• If a union has 51%+ of workers as members → recognised as the Sole Negotiating Union
• If no union has 51%+ membership → a Negotiating Council shall be formed consisting of representatives of unions with at least 20% of workers as members
• The Negotiating Council negotiates on behalf of all workers — it is a mechanism for structured collective bargaining even when no single union dominates

Recognition Period: Negotiating Union/Council recognised for 3 years — after which fresh verification of membership is required.

Under the old Trade Unions Act 1926, there was no provision for recognition of trade unions — unions could be registered but need not be recognised by employers for collective bargaining. Section 14 IRC 2020 addresses this crucial gap.

A registered trade union shall not be liable to criminal prosecution for any act done in furtherance of a trade dispute by or on behalf of the trade union, if such act would not be punishable as an offence under the Indian Penal Code (or BNS 2023) but for this section — meaning, if it is done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute, it shall not be an offence even if it would otherwise have constituted criminal conspiracy or other offences (e.g., Section 61 BNS — criminal conspiracy).

Purpose: Without this immunity, virtually all collective action (strikes, picketing, organising boycotts) could be prosecuted as criminal conspiracy. The immunity is necessary for trade unions to function.

Limitation: The immunity applies only to registered trade unions acting in furtherance of a trade dispute. It does not apply to: acts of violence; coercion; damage to property; or offences not related to labour disputes.

No suit or other legal proceeding shall be maintainable in any civil court against any registered trade union or any officer or member thereof in respect of any act done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute to which a member of the trade union is a party, on the ground only that such act induces some other person to break a contract of employment or that it is an interference with the trade, business, or employment of some other person, or with the right of some other person to dispose of his capital or his labour as he wills.

Purpose: Without civil immunity, every strike would expose trade union officers to suits for inducing breach of contract or interference with business (economic torts). The immunity ensures that unions can organise strikes without fear of massive damages claims.

The IRC 2020 adopts the same definition of “industry” as Section 2(j) of the old IDA 1947. The Supreme Court’s interpretation in the Bangalore Water Supply case (AIR 1978 SC 548) remains the definitive authority.

Triple Test (Bangalore Water Supply):

1. Systematic activity
2. Carried on by cooperation between employer and workmen
3. For the production, supply, or distribution of goods or services to satisfy human wants

All three must be satisfied. The nature of the organisation (government/private/charitable), its motive (profit/non-profit), and its ownership are irrelevant.

Under the IDA 1947, jurisdiction of Industrial Tribunals was generally limited to “industrial disputes” — disputes of collective concern to workers generally. A purely “individual” dispute (one workman’s personal grievance, not supported by a union or body of workmen) was NOT an “industrial dispute” and fell outside the Tribunal’s jurisdiction.

This distinction has been significantly modified by Section 2(q) of the IRC 2020, which now allows individual disputes of any workman whose services have been retrenched or who has been dismissed, discharged, or terminated to be raised as industrial disputes — directly, without requiring a union or fellow workmen to take up the cause.

Strike [Section 2(zk) IRC 2020]: Cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in combination, or a concerted refusal of a number of persons to continue to work or to accept employment.

Lock-Out [Section 2(u) IRC 2020]: Temporary closing of a place of employment, or the suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him.

Notice Requirement (Section 62): No person employed in an industrial establishment shall go on strike in breach of contract without giving 14 days’ notice (notice period: 14–60 days) to the employer before going on strike. For public utility services, 14 days’ notice is mandatory.

When Strike is Prohibited (Section 62): A strike is prohibited during: (a) pendency of conciliation proceedings and 7 days after conclusion; (b) pendency of arbitration proceedings and 60 days after conclusion; (c) pendency of proceedings before a Tribunal and 60 days after conclusion; (d) during the operation of an award.

Change in Conditions (Section 63): No employer shall alter the service conditions of a workman to his prejudice without giving 21 days’ notice to the workman — this protects workmen from arbitrary changes to their terms of employment while a dispute is pending.

Standing Orders are conditions of employment formally certified by the government for application in an industrial establishment. They provide the terms and conditions of employment — working hours, shifts, leave, misconduct, disciplinary procedure, dismissal, etc.

Applicability: Every industrial establishment employing 300 or more workmen (reduced from 100 under the old IESO Act 1946 by IRC 2020 — but subject to state government notification).

Procedure: The employer must submit draft standing orders to the Certifying Officer (Labour Commissioner/Deputy LC). Workers/union must be consulted. After hearing both sides, the Certifying Officer certifies (or modifies) the standing orders. Certified standing orders are binding on all workers in the establishment.

Model Standing Orders: Where no standing orders are submitted/certified, the Model Standing Orders (prescribed by the Central Government) automatically apply.

Matters covered: Classification of workers; attendance and hours; holidays; leave; pay; termination of employment; misconduct and punishment; notice periods; grievance procedures.

Definition [Section 2(h) IRC 2020]: “Lay-off” means the failure, refusal or inability of an employer on account of shortage of coal, power, or raw materials, or the accumulation of stocks, or the breakdown of machinery or natural calamity or for any other connected reason to give employment to a workman whose name is on the muster rolls of his industrial establishment and who has not been retrenched.

Key Points: (a) The workman’s name MUST be on the muster roll; (b) The lay-off must be for specified reasons — it cannot be arbitrary; (c) The workman is NOT retrenched — the employer-employee relationship continues; (d) Lay-off is temporary — the workman expects to return to work.

Lay-Off Compensation [Section 78 IRC 2020]: A laid-off workman (except a badli/casual workman) is entitled to compensation at 50% of his basic wages and dearness allowance for the period of lay-off. Maximum lay-off compensation period = 45 days in any 12-month period for establishments with fewer than 50 workmen.

Prior Permission for Lay-Off [Section 79 IRC 2020]: Establishments employing 300+ workmen must obtain prior government permission before laying off workers (previously 100 workmen under old IDA — increased to 300 by IRC 2020).

Definition [Section 2(t) IRC 2020 / old Section 2(oo) IDA]: “Retrenchment” means the termination by the employer of the service of a workman for any reason whatsoever, otherwise than as a punishment inflicted by way of disciplinary action, but does NOT include:

• Voluntary retirement of the workman
• Retirement of the workman on reaching superannuation age
• Termination of service of a workman on ground of continued ill-health
• Non-renewal of contract of employment

Prerequisites for Valid Retrenchment [Section 80 IRC 2020]:

1. One month’s notice in writing (or one month’s wages in lieu of notice) to the workman
2. Retrenchment compensation at the rate of 15 days’ average wages for every completed year of continuous service (or part thereof in excess of 6 months)
3. Notice in the prescribed form to the appropriate government

Prior Permission [Section 81 IRC 2020]: Establishments employing 300+ workmen must obtain prior government permission for retrenchment (formerly 100 under old IDA — increased by IRC 2020).

Where any workman in a particular category in an establishment is to be retrenched, and if there is more than one workman in that category, the employer shall ordinarily retrench the workman who was the last to be employed in that category — unless, for reasons to be recorded in writing, the employer retrenches any other workman. This is the LIFO (Last-In-First-Out) principle.

Purpose: LIFO protects senior employees from arbitrary selection for retrenchment. Seniority (length of service) is the primary criterion — the most recently hired go first.

Exception: Employer may depart from LIFO if reasons are recorded in writing — e.g., where a junior worker has skills essential to the establishment that the senior does not possess.

Right of Re-Employment: When the employer proposes to re-employ workmen in the same category, retrenched workmen have a preferential right to be re-employed over other persons — they must be given 14 days’ notice of the vacancy. This is the right of re-employment under Section 80(3) IRC 2020.

Definition [Section 2(zh) IRC 2020]: “Closure” means the permanent closing down of a place of employment or part thereof.

Notice of Closure: Every employer who intends to close down an establishment must give 60 days’ notice (in writing) to the appropriate government — specifying the reasons for closure.

Prior Permission [Section 82 IRC 2020]: Establishments employing 300+ workmen must obtain prior government permission before closure.

Compensation on Closure: Workmen whose services are terminated on account of closure are entitled to compensation equal to 15 days’ average wages for each completed year of continuous service.

Closure vs. Retrenchment: Closure is permanent closing of the entire establishment or part — all workmen are discharged. Retrenchment is discharge of surplus workmen while the establishment continues. If bona fide closure of the entire business is involved, the termination is NOT retrenchment (Hariprasad case) but workers are entitled to compensation under Section 25FFF (now IRC 2020).

The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 consolidates 13 earlier central labour laws relating to factory safety, mines, docks, plantations, contract labour, inter-state migrant workers, and others into a single unified code. It covers:

• Factories Act 1948
• Mines Act 1952
• Dock Workers (Safety, Health and Welfare) Act 1986
• Plantation Labour Act 1951
• Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970
• Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979
• And 7 others

Applicability: Establishments employing 10+ workers (with power) or 20+ workers (without power).

• Provide and maintain a work environment that is safe, without risks to health and adequate as regards welfare
• Provide and maintain a safe means of access to, and egress from, every part of the workplace
• Provide information, instruction, training, and supervision necessary to ensure health and safety
• Take measures to mitigate and control hazardous substances
• Ensure safe use, handling, storage, and transport of articles and substances
• Carry out risk assessments and medical examinations of workers
• Appoint safety officers and health officers as prescribed
• Constitute safety committees in establishments with 500+ workers
• Report occupational diseases and accidents to the authority

• Take care of their own health and safety and that of persons who may be affected by their acts
• Comply with the employer’s health and safety instructions
• Use PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) provided by the employer
• Report any dangerous situation, defects, or accidents to the employer
• NOT interfere with or misuse safety equipment
• Cooperate with the employer in implementing safety measures

• Cleanliness and proper waste disposal
• Adequate ventilation, lighting, and temperature control
• Control of dust, fumes, and hazardous substances
• Prevention of overcrowding (minimum 14.2 cubic metres per worker)
• Safe machinery — fencing, inspection, testing
• Protection from fire — firefighting equipment, emergency exits, evacuation procedures
• Hazardous work: special provisions for work involving chemicals, radiation, noise
• Annual health surveillance for workers in hazardous processes

• Washing facilities, canteen (100+ workers), rest rooms and lunch rooms
• First aid boxes — one per 150 workers; ambulance room (500+ workers)
• Safety Officer (500+ workers); Welfare Officer (250+ workers in factories)
• Crèche (30+ women workers)
• Protection for women — prohibition on night work except with safeguards; provision for transport