Amid Oppn onslaught, top law panel official says labour codes ‘most far-reaching reform’

New Delhi: Amid criticism by Opposition parties, a top law commission official on Sunday described the four labour codes as a reform that offers the potential to create a more “inclusive and future-ready labour market” in the country.

The official said the codes stand among the “most consequential and far-reaching labour reforms undertaken in decades”.

For years, India’s labour regulation evolved incrementally, resulting in multiple laws with different definitions, varying thresholds and divergent compliance obligations.

“The four-code framework seeks to address this complexity by bringing together concepts around wages, safety standards and social security, while aligning regulation with a labour market that is no longer confined to traditional employment relationships,” Law Commission member secretary Anju Rathi Rana told news agency.

Opposition parties, along with 10 central trade unions, have opposed the four new labour codes, calling them “anti-worker” and “pro-corporate”. They have alleged that the codes facilitate “hire-and-fire” policies, restrict union rights, and reduce social security.

Rana said the four codes -- the Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Code on Social Security, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH-WC) Code -- mark a significant structural shift in the country’s labour law framework.

“In my view, they stand among the most consequential and far-reaching labour reforms undertaken in decades. The four integrated codes mark a significant structural shift in the country’s labour law framework,” the former Union law secretary said.

She noted that the codes introduce several substantive shifts.

The Code on Wages, 2019 empowers the Central government to fix a floor wage and standardises key wage-related definitions.

The Code on Social Security, 2020 formally recognises unorganised, gig and platform workers, expanding the statutory canvas of social protection.

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 consolidates laws governing trade unions, standing orders and industrial disputes, with the objective of providing a more structured framework for industrial relations, she said.

The OSH-WC Code brings occupational safety, health and working-condition standards under a single, modernised framework.

“Yet, these labour codes only offer a foundation. Legislative consolidation is only the beginning. From a policy perspective, this reform offers the potential to create a more inclusive and future-ready labour market. Its success and impact,

however, will depend on coordinated implementation across states and maintaining a balance between flexibility for enterprises and meaningful safeguards for workers,” she said.

The Labour Ministry had recently outlined a structured set of employer compliances under the new labour codes, reflecting a move from legislative consolidation to operational execution, the senior Indian Legal Service officer said.

“The true test of the labour codes will lie not merely in simplification, but in whether they translate statutory consolidation into credible, enforceable and lived worker protection,” she said.