Govt to hire experts for framing rules of three labour codes

The labour ministry has sought application from legal experts that it aims to hire as consultants on contractual basis to help government frame rules of the three labour codes which have been recently passed by the Parliament.
The two experts are being sought at the level of joint secretary and director or deputy secretary level. “The experts will be responsible for codification of labour laws, framing of rules related to labour codes, assisting the committee tasked with framing of rules and connected legal matters besides work related to other legislative initiatives of the ministry,” ministry said in a statement.

Government plans to implement all the four labour codes from April 1 and has kick-started work on farming the rules.

The Parliament had recently passed the Industrial Relations Code, the Code in Social Security and the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Condition following which they have been notified. The Code on Wages was passed and notified last year but has not been implemented so far.

Once the four Codes get implemented, the establishments will have to file a single return to the authorities, thereby significantly easing the compliance burden. Besides, there will be a floor level minimum wage with a statutory backing while the number of minimum wages across the country will reduce substantially to 12 from 540 under central laws and to 180-200 under the state laws compared to over 9,000 now.

Besides, the Codes give enough flexibility of hiring and firing to employers, have legalised fixed-term employment and provides for social security for all workers, including the unorganised workers, the gig and platform workers as well as the self-employed.