Draft rules detail wages, working hours, social security framework

CENTRE PRE PUBLISHES DRAFT RULES ON FOUR LABOUR CODES

- AAISHA SABIR

The Ministry of Labour and Employment on Wednesday moved closer to rolling out India's long-awaited labour law reforms by pre-publishing draft rules under all four Labour Codes and inviting feedback from stakeholders, a step required to make the new legal framework fully operational.

The government has set April 1, 2026 as the target date to enforce the Codes across the country in one phase, subject to completion of consultations and notification of final rules by both the Centre and the states.

The four Codes include 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. While these laws lay down the broad statutory framework, the draft rules detail how provisions on wages, working hours, social security, safety standards and dispute resolution will function in practice. The ministry has allowed a 30-day window for comments on the Industrial Relations Code rules and 45 days for the remaining three Codes from the date of publication.