Employer-Employee's Guide to New Labour Laws

Employer-Employee's Guide to New Labour Laws is a focused, practical handbook that explains how India's labour-law landscape has been transformed by the four new Labour Codes and what that transformation means, in concrete terms, for employers and employees alike. The four Codes are:

• The Code on Wages 2019 (COW 2019)
• The Industrial Relations Code 2020 (IRC 2020)
• The Code on Social Security 2020 (CSS 2020)
• The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 (OSHWC Code 2020)

These four Codes consolidate and replace more than two dozen erstwhile central labour enactments—among them the Payment of Bonus Act 1965, Payment of Gratuity Act 1972, Minimum Wages Act 1948, Payment of Wages Act 1936, EPF Act 1952, ESI Act 1948, Employees' Compensation Act 1923, Factories Act 1948, Industrial Disputes Act 1947, Contract Labour Act 1970, Trade Unions Act 1926, Maternity Benefit Act 1961, Equal Remuneration Act 1976, Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979, and the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act 2008. The book is built around the fact that all four Codes came into force on 21st November 2025, making this 2026 edition a timely, transition-stage guide, with the law set out up to 15th June 2026.

Crucially, the book does not simply reprint the statute. Its organising principle is a single, high-value question—'what has actually changed?' Topic by topic, it isolates each new definition, revised threshold, fresh compliance obligation, and altered entitlement under the Codes, and contrasts it with the corresponding provision in the repealed Act (often citing both the old section and the new Code section). The result is a change-oriented digest that lets either side of the workplace relationship understand the practical impact of the new regime quickly and precisely.

The guide is pitched at both a general and a professional readership:

• Employers, Business Owners, and Management who must understand and discharge new compliance duties (registrations, notices, licences, wage restructuring, returns) under the Codes
• HR, Personnel, Payroll, and Compliance Teams re-engineering salary structures and benefit calculations to align with the new, unified definition of 'wages'
• Employees, Workers, and their Representatives/Trade Unions who want clarity on revised rights, eligibility, and protections
• Practitioners—Labour-Law Advocates, Company Secretaries, Chartered Accountants, and Consultants—needing a fast, reliable change-reference
• Students and Academics in Law, HR, and Management seeking a clear orientation to the new four-Code architecture
• It’s plain-language, comparison-driven style serves newcomers as an explainer and experienced professionals as a desk-side ready reckoner

The Present Publication is the 1st Edition, updated till 15th June 2026, authored by Taxmann's Editorial Board with the following noteworthy features:

• Change-Focused, not Text-Heavy – Every chapter pinpoints what is new or different under the Codes and sets it against the repealed Act, so the practical effect is immediately visible
• All Four Labour Codes in One Slim Volume – Wages, Industrial Relations, Social Security, and OSHWC are covered together, with cross-references between old and new provisions
• Built Around the Unified 'Wages' Definition – The single definition of 'wages' [Section 2(y), COW 2019] now applies across all four Codes—and the book devotes a full chapter to it
• Worked Illustrations of the '50% Rule' – Concrete, rupee-by-rupee examples show how