Employment & labour law guides (India)

This hub is the shelf for every work-rights question RTI Wiki answers. The four labour codes — the Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Code on Social Security, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code — have been in force since 21 November 2025, and they changed the rules for wages, gratuity, leave and retrenchment that older articles still quote. Every guide below is written for the law as it stands now.

Use it by situation, not by statute. If you are mid-dispute, jump to the section that names your problem — withheld settlement, denied ESIC treatment, a relieving letter stuck before a background check. If you want the background first, the four labour codes section maps the new framework in plain words. One habit decides most of these cases: write, date and keep everything. A polite email sent this week is worth more than an angry phone call every day, because employment claims are proven on paper, and they weaken with every month of silence.

Start here if you want the new framework rather than one specific fight. The codes replaced many older central labour laws and now carry the rules on minimum wages, gratuities, retrenchment pay, social security registration and workplace safety. Employers and offices are still adjusting, which is exactly why your written record of dates, dues and demands matters more than before.

• The new labour codes and your rights — what changed for employees.
• Code on Wages — recovering unpaid minimum wages.
• The Wage Code and your take-home salary.
• The 50 percent basic wage rule — how the wage definition moved PF and gratuity.
• Standing orders and the 300-worker threshold.

Most exit fights are document fights. The employer holds the paper; you need the law that forces it out of the drawer.

• Employer refusing your relieving or experience letter — alternate proof that satisfies background checks.
• Notice period recovery demanded despite a proper resignation.
• Job offer revoked after you resigned — the action plan for the double bind.
• Marked absconding despite resigning and returning assets.
• Negative background verification from a previous employer.
• Employment bonds and enforceability — when a training bond can actually bind.
• Probation, confirmation and termination.

Unpaid salary, withheld bonus and stalled settlements follow one ladder: written demand, labour department complaint, then recovery proceedings. Each guide below runs that ladder for one kind of money.

• Full and final settlement delayed after resignation.
• Salary arrears not paid — what to do next.
• Employer not giving a salary slip — your entitlement and the demand letter.
• Variable pay, incentive or earned bonus withheld.
• Statutory bonus not paid.
• Illegal wage deductions — getting deducted money back.

Gratuity and PF are statutory money, not employer generosity. The claims run through offices that must answer.

• Gratuity withheld after termination or misconduct.
• Gratuity — complaint to the controlling authority.
• Gratuity for fixed-term employees — one year of service, no five-year wait.
• Earned leave and carry forward rules.
• Gratuity calculation errors — checking the employer's maths.
• PF interest not credited in the passbook.

ESIC cover follows the insured worker and, in the worst cases, the family. Records go wrong more often than benefits run out, so most of these guides are about fixing the record before fighting the denial. Start with the overview, then pick the guide that matches what the office told you.

• ESIC benefits and claims overview — what the card actually entitles you to.
• Wrong employer or contribution record in ESIC — the correction route.
• ESIC claim or medical benefit denied — the worker complaint guide.
• ESIC dependants benefit — pension after a work death.
• ESIC maternity benefit — Form 19 claim and appeal.
• ESIC sickness benefit — cash while you cannot work.

Job loss has a price the law fixes in advance, and it is counted in days of wages, not in goodwill. Safety failures have a compensation route that does not need a lawyer to start. In both situations the first document to secure is the appointment letter and the last is the exit record — everything in between is what the claims are built on.

• Retrenchment compensation — what the Industrial Relations Code owes you.
• Layoff compensation.
• Challenging wrongful termination in labour court.
• Forced resignation through a PIP — reading the exit for what it is.
• Work injury compensation through the commissioner.
• Working hours and overtime — the spread-over rules.

Not every workplace problem is about money owed. Some are about doors that should be open — to maternity leave, to equal pay for the same work, to a creche, to basic dignity. These rights have their own complaint routes, and they often move faster than wage claims because the facts are documentary.

• Maternity benefit denied by your employer — the step-by-step action plan.
• Women at work under the new codes.
• Equal pay for equal work — temporary staff included.
• Creche facility under the Social Security Code.
• Employer keeps your original certificates — how to get them back.
• Bonded labour — release certificate and compensation.
• Mental harassment at work — naming it and acting on it.

The labour department is the first statutory door for wages, PF and gratuity complaints. RTI works beside it: it pulls contribution records, inspection reports and file notings that turn a complaint into a provable case.

• Labour department complaint against an employer — salary, PF, gratuity.
• RTI vs alternatives decision matrix — matching the lever to the problem.
• How to file an RTI — the complete guide.
• The RTI Playbook — the full citizen method, from application to second appeal.

Curated for RTI Wiki by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak.