How India’s Four Labour Codes Aim to Improve Wages and Worker Safety
On 21 November 2025, the Government of India implemented four comprehensive labour codes, marking one of the most significant overhauls of the country’s labour laws in decades. These codes replace older fragmented laws to create a unified framework designed to protect workers, standardise wages, strengthen worker safety, and simplify compliance.
The Four Labour Codes
- Code on Wages (2019)
- Industrial Relations Code (2020)
- Code on Social Security (2020)
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (2020)
Why These Labour Codes Were Needed
India’s labour laws were long considered numerous, overlapping, and outdated. The rules often differed across states and did not reflect modern forms of work. The new labour codes aim to simplify this complexity, formalise employment, broaden protection, and ensure that workers in all sectors benefit from minimum standards.
Key Reforms to Improve Wages
- Universal Minimum Wage: Every worker has a statutory right to a minimum wage.
- National Floor Wage: The central government sets a floor wage below which no state can go.
- Timely Payment: Wages must be paid on time, reducing delays and uncertainty.
- Overtime Pay: Workers receive double pay for overtime hours.
- Definition of Wages Standardised: There is now a consistent definition of “wages” across all labour codes.
Strengthening Worker Safety and Health
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code consolidates multiple older laws into a single framework, ensuring better safety and health standards. Key measures include:
- Formal employment contracts to secure worker rights and benefits.
- Regulated working hours and mandated overtime pay.
- Access to free annual medical check-ups.
- Safety committees in large establishments to address workplace risks.
- Safety protocols for women working night shifts, ensuring protection and opportunity.
Social Security and Inclusion
The Code on Social Security expands the welfare net to include gig workers, platform workers, and other non-traditional employees. Benefits like pension, insurance, and provident fund are now more accessible. Portability of benefits ensures migrant workers and mobile employees are covered. Fixed-term employees receive the same benefits as permanent workers, and gratuity eligibility has been improved.
Industrial Relations and Dispute Resolution
The Industrial Relations Code streamlines employer-worker interactions and dispute resolution. It formally recognises fixed-term employment, simplifies trade union registration, introduces faster tribunals for labour disputes, and raises the threshold for layoffs requiring government permission, balancing worker protection and business flexibility.
Special Protections for Vulnerable Worker Groups
The labour codes provide special attention to women, migrant workers, and gig/platform workers. Women enjoy maternity benefits, equal pay, creches, and consent-based night work. Migrant workers gain social security portability, while gig and platform workers are formally defined and covered for social security.
Balancing Worker Protection and Business Flexibility
The codes reduce compliance burdens for businesses by consolidating 29 laws into four codes, introducing single licenses for contractors, and emphasizing a facilitative rather than punitive role for labour inspectors.
Conclusion
The enforcement of India’s four new labour codes represents a major step toward modernising labour governance. By consolidating fragmented laws, guaranteeing minimum wages, expanding social security, and strengthening workplace safety, the reforms aim to uplift workers across formal and informal sectors while maintaining business flexibility. The ultimate success will depend on state-level implementation and effective enforcement.