Reforms to simplify processes, reduce penal provisions, and strengthen worker rights

JAMMU: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a high-level meeting to review the implementation status of the four new Labour Codes, one of India’s most significant labour reforms aimed at simplifying compliance systems and improving worker welfare across Jammu & Kashmir.

The meeting was attended by the Secretary Labour & Employment, Secretary IT, Secretary Law, Labour Commissioner, Director Industries & Commerce Jammu and other senior officers.

The Chief Secretary noted that consolidation of multiple labour legislations into four streamlined codes marks a major milestone in enhancing the ease of doing business while reinforcing rights and protections for the workforce.

 He called for strengthening the institutional and legal frameworks required for the smooth adoption of these codes in the UT. Stressing the importance of stakeholder outreach, he directed the Labour & Employment Department to roll out a sustained IEC campaign and undertake comprehensive capacity-building programmes for employers, workers and implementing agencies.

The Chief Secretary also emphasised the need to ensure full integration with the National Labour Portal so that the reforms are implemented uniformly and transparently. The Chief Secretary further instructed the department to expedite amendments in rules and issue all essential notifications to ensure that compliance under the new regime becomes faster, easier and less cumbersome for all stakeholders.

On this occasion Secretary, Labour & Employment, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, explained that 44 Central labour laws have now been subsumed into four comprehensive codes, creating a unified and modern regulatory framework.

He informed that the Code on Wages, 2019 streamlines legislation relating to minimum wages, wage payment, bonus and equal remuneration, ensuring a statutory minimum wage for every worker and introducing a national floor wage to bring uniformity across sectors. The code also eliminates gender-based discrimination, explicitly protecting transgender workers, and shifts minor offences from criminal to monetary penalties to prevent harassment.

Regarding the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 it was revealed that the same integrates laws governing trade unions, standing orders and industrial disputes, providing a single framework for industrial relations.

 It introduces fixed-term employment with benefits at par with permanent staff, raises the applicability threshold for Standing Orders from establishments with 100 to 300 workers and provides for two-member Industrial Tribunals to expedite dispute resolution. It also mandates a 14-day notice period for strikes and lockouts and lays down clearer criteria for recognising trade unions.

The Secretary further explained that the Social Security Code, 2020 consolidates nine major social security laws related to EPF, ESI, gratuity, maternity benefits, employment exchanges and welfare boards. It extends social security to gig workers, platform workers and other unorganised sector workers, who are formally recognised for the first time.

The code also establishes a dedicated Social Security Fund for unorganised workers, reduces EPF appeal deposits to ease employer burden and expands the definition of dependents to include grandparents and in-laws for female employees.

Likewise, the Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions (OSH&WC) Code, 2020 merges 13 laws on workplace safety and working conditions, enabling single electronic registration for establishments with 10 or more workers, ensuring uniform safety standards across industries and simplifying licensing procedures through a consolidated framework. It also strengthens protections for contract labour and interstate migrant workers.

Further the Labour Commissioner, Charandeep Singh informed the meeting that the rationalisation of labour laws has led to a substantial reduction in compliance requirements. He noted that the number of sections has been reduced from 1,228 to 480, rules from 1,436 to 351, registrations from eight to one, and licenses from four to one.

Similarly, the number of forms has come down from 181 to 73, registers from 84 to eight and returns from 31 to a single consolidated return. The number of sections prescribing imprisonment has been reduced from 87 to 22, and new mechanisms such as improvement notices and compounding of offences have been introduced to prioritise corrective measures over punitive action.

Highlighting the major gains expected from these reforms, it was stated that compliance has become significantly simpler with the adoption of a single license, single registration and one consolidated return in place of multiple earlier requirements.