Even as Centre dithers on notifying labour codes, most states amend labour laws to attract investments
The Parliament had passed the codes that consolidated the 29 central labour laws between 2019 and 2020. These included the Code on Wages; Code on Industrial Relations; Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions; and Code on Social Security. However, 5 years down the line, the Centre is yet to notify the rules, without which the codes cannot become operational.
New Delhi: From allowing women to work night shifts to empowering companies with up to 300 employees to hire and fire without government approval, states across India, including non-BJP ones, have amended their labour laws to attract investment and boost economic activity, even as the Centre continues to dither on notifying four labour codes.
Even the non-NDA ruled states, including Punjab, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka have eased their law to allow women to work night shifts.
In the remaining states and UT, the amendment is under consideration, labour ministry sources said. In the labour codes passed by the Centre, the Factories Act was subsumed in the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Condition.
Twelve states have amended the Factories Act to extend work shifts to 12 hours per day. These states have also increased the quarterly overtime hours limit from 75 hours to up to 125 hours. Opposition ruled states, such as Karnataka, Himachal and Punjab, overtime hours have been extended to 144 hours. In several other states and UTs, including Jammu and Kashmir, Telangana, Jharkhand and Meghalaya, the amendments are under consideration, labour ministry documents show.
Also read: Naidu govt approves 10-hr workdays, night shifts for women in bid to attract more industry, investment
19 states amended law allowing companies to hire and fire
Some 19 states and UTs have also amended the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, allowing companies employing up to 300 workers to hire and fire without needing government approval.
Earlier, it was compulsory for firms employing up to 100 workers to frame standing orders for its workforce. Standing orders are the rules of conduct for workmen employed in industrial establishments. The Industrial Disputes Act was subsumed in the Code on Industrial Relations.
Nineteen states and Union Territories have amended the Factories Act to raise the worker threshold that defines a factory for the law's applicability. While for factories using power, a majority of the states and UTs have increased the threshold from 10 to 20 or more workers, for factories not using power, the threshold has been increased from 20 to 40 or more workers.
Another significant amendment that states and UTs have made in their respective laws relate to fixed term employment. Some 25 states and UTs have now allowed fixed term employment, providing employers the flexibility to hire workers for a specified period, as per requirement.
Besides, 21 states and four UTs have amended their state specific laws allowing for compounding (settling) of offences, which were not punishable with imprisonment or imprisonment and fine. The four labour codes allow compounding for a sum of 50 percent of the maximum fine provided for the offence.
Besides, 17 states and two UTs have also amended the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, to make it applicable to establishments and contractors employing 50 or more workers from the earlier 20 workers.
Sources in the ministry said that states have gone ahead and amended their archaic labour laws on their own to become more competitive and investor friendly.
'States have realised that if they do not reform their labour laws, they will lose out on business. Companies will go and set up their business in states where the compliance norms are not cumbersome and there is ease of doing business,' one of the sources said.
The source, however, did not give a clear timeframe about when the Centre will notify the codes.
There has been a lot of push back from trade unions to roll back several provisions in the labour codes. Government sources said that this is one of the key reasons behind the Centre's tardiness in not notifying the codes.
The ministry, on its part, has been blaming the states for not finalising the draft rules. Since labour is part of the concurrent list and both states and the Centre have to notify the rules under their respective jurisdiction. Without the notification of rules, the codes cannot become operational.
A government source said, this lessens the criticism on the Centre for delay in notifying the labour codes.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Labour Secretary chairs 16th meeting of Building and Other Construction Workers monitoring committee
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