The Labour Codes are a set of four central Acts passed by the Indian Parliament to consolidate and simplify the country's complex framework of labour laws. The reform was initiated to address the problem of an old and scattered framework of 29 Central labour Acts, many of which were rigid, difficult to navigate, and framed in the pre-Independence era. The four codes are the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020. The Code on Wages, 2019 was notified on August 8, 2019, and the remaining three codes were notified on September 29, 2020.
The codes work by subsuming and replacing the older laws, such as the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Key provisions include the introduction of a uniform definition of "wages" across all four codes, with a cap that requires at least 50% of total remuneration to qualify as wages for calculating benefits like gratuity and provident fund. The Code on Social Security, 2020 is a significant change, as it formally recognizes and extends social security benefits to gig and platform workers for the first time. The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 permits women to work night shifts in all types of work, subject to their consent and mandatory safety measures. The codes connect to the concept of "ease of doing business" by streamlining compliance and replacing multiple overlapping requirements with a single registration and license. While the codes have been enacted, their full implementation is transitional, as many provisions depend on the Central and State Governments promulgating final rules.