Employment

Employment and labour law in India runs through a mix of long-standing central statutes, state-specific rules, tribunal proceedings, and, as of the recently notified labour codes, a body of law still in the process of being applied for the first time.

Disputes and dismissal

Where an employee's termination or a change in service conditions is contested, the matter proceeds before Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals, and from there, where a constitutional or larger legal question is raised, the High Courts. These proceedings examine both the substantive ground for the employer's action and whether the procedure followed (notice, opportunity to respond and, where applicable, a domestic enquiry) met the standard the law requires.

Disciplinary process

A domestic enquiry, the internal process an employer runs before taking disciplinary action against an employee, has its own procedural requirements: a properly framed charge sheet, an opportunity for the employee to respond and be heard, and a reasoned finding before any punishment is imposed. Advisory at this stage, before an enquiry is concluded, generally determines whether the resulting action can withstand a later challenge.

Collective and industrial matters

Strikes, lockouts, retrenchment and collective bargaining are governed by their own procedural requirements under industrial relations law, including notice periods and, in some cases, prior permission before retrenchment can proceed. Getting these procedural steps right at the time generally decides whether a later industrial dispute succeeds or fails.

Compliance and the codes

Standing orders, obligations under the workplace sexual harassment framework, and contract labour management sit alongside a set of statutory obligations that apply to most establishments regardless of the specific dispute environment. The recently notified labour codes (covering wages, industrial relations, occupational safety and social security) change several of these obligations, including gratuity eligibility for fixed-term employees and the working hours framework, and an establishment has to track which version of the law applies to it as central and state rules under the codes continue to come into force.