Open Access Research Article

CONSOLIDATION OR COMPROMISE? THE ILLUSION OF FLEXIBILITY: WORKER PROTECTIONS AND CAPITAL FLUIDITY UNDER INDIA’S FOUR LABOUR CODES

Author(s):
PRIYAVARDHAN BALOT VINAY SACHDEV
Journal IJLRA
ISSN 2582-6433
Access Open Access
Volume 3
Issue 7
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Abstract

On 21 November 2025, India brought into force 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, repealing 29 central labour statutes, many of them colonial or early post-colonial in origin.[1] The central rules followed in May 2026.[2] The reform was justified as a long-overdue simplification: a single definition of wages, a single registration, and a compliance regime fit for an economy that wants to attract manufacturing capital. This paper argues that the simplification is real but not neutral. Using doctrinal legal research, it reads the operative provisions of each Code against the constitutional benchmarks of Articles 14, 19 and 21 and the Directive Principles in Articles 38, 39, 41, 42 and 43. It finds that the Codes modernise vocabulary while shifting structural power toward employers in three ways. First, the Industrial Relations Code raises the threshold for prior permission before retrenchment from 100 to 300 workers and extends strike notice requirements to every industrial establishment, making lawful collective action procedurally fragile. Second, the Code on Social Security names gig and platform workers for the first time but places them outside the category of employee, so recognition arrives without the rights that ordinarily follow it. Third, the Codes leave an unusually large share of their substance to rules ‘as may be prescribed’, moving core labour policy from Parliament to the executive. The paper concludes that constitutional courts will have to read fundamental rights back into the Codes, and proposes amendments including a dependent contractor category, sector-linked retrenchment thresholds, and parliamentary scrutiny of key rules. [1]Code on Wages 2019; Industrial Relations Code 2020; Code on Social Security 2020; Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020. The four Codes were brought into force by notifications of the Ministry of Labour and Employment dated 21 November 2025, which also repealed the 29 central statutes subsumed in them. [2]Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026; Industrial Relations (Central) Rules 2026; Social Security (Central) Rules 2026 (notified 8 May 2026); Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules 2026 (notified 9 May 2026). See KPMG, ‘Government of India notifies final Rules on four Labour Codes’ (Flash News, 10 May 2026) <https://www.in.kpmg.com/taxflashnews/KPMG-Flash-News-Notification-of-final-Rules-on-Four-Labour-Codes.pdf> accessed 5 October 2026.

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Authors: PRIYAVARDHAN BALOT & VINAY SACHDEVRegistration ID: 1013343 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13343 & IJLRA13344Year: Oct-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 7Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, IndiaPage No.: 941- 960

Article Information

CONSOLIDATION OR COMPROMISE? THE ILLUSION OF FLEXIBILITY: WORKER PROTECTIONS AND CAPITAL FLUIDITY UNDER INDIA’S FOUR LABOUR CODES

Authors: PRIYAVARDHAN BALOT, VINAY SACHDEV

  • Journal IJLRA
  • ISSN 2582-6433
  • Volume 3
  • Issue 7
Citation Download Paper Full Details Search on Google Search on Google Scholar

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International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis

  • AbbreviationIJLRA
  • ISSN2582-6433
  • AccessOpen Access
  • LicenseCC 4.0

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