Welcoming the Union government’s overhaul of India’s labour laws, Supreme Court judge Justice Manmohan on Thursday stressed that the four new labour codes must be implemented with fairness, equity and institutional readiness, saying the reforms are designed for the future of work in the country.
Speaking at the one-day national conference titled “Decoding the Codes – Conference on Four Labour Codes”, jointly organised by the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Justice Manmohan said the success of the reforms would depend not just on legislation, but on clear, consistent and coordinated implementation across states.
Highlighting the need to move beyond outdated frameworks, Justice Manmohan said India’s century-old labour laws had served their purpose but were no longer suited to present-day realities. “We have to ensure that the dignity of labour is not just a slogan but part of our statutory framework. The hundred-year-old laws have served their time. They belong to history. These new codes belong to our future,” he said, urging authorities to enforce them in the spirit they were intended.
The four labour codes — the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 — were notified on November 21. Together, they rationalise and consolidate 29 existing central labour laws into a simplified legal framework.
Justice Manmohan pointed out that many earlier labour statutes, some dating back to 1926 and 1936, had fallen out of sync with modern employment patterns. He noted that traditional laws failed to adequately address emerging realities such as digital platforms, gig work and new forms of employment.
“With an estimated workforce of nearly 50 crore people, of whom close to 90 per cent are engaged in the unorganised sector, it was imperative to modernise and rationalise the labour law framework to address long-standing gaps in coverage and protection,” he said.
According to the judge, the new labour codes aim to simplify compliance while offering greater operational flexibility to employers. He cited provisions such as raising the threshold for prior government approval in cases of layoffs and retrenchment as part of this effort to balance business needs with worker welfare.
“The consolidation of nearly 29–30 central labour enactments into four labour codes seeks to strike a balance between ease of doing business and worker welfare,” Justice Manmohan said. He added that the reforms significantly expand minimum wage and social security coverage to unorganised, gig, platform and fixed-term workers.
Justice Manmohan also underscored that the real challenge lies ahead. “The true test of these reforms will lie in their effective and coordinated implementation by the state governments,” he said.
The new labour framework also introduces expanded rights and safety measures for women workers, including permission for night shifts, free annual health check-ups for workers above the age of 40, pan-India Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) coverage including hazardous process units, and a unified system for registration, licensing and returns.
Justice Manmohan’s remarks come amid ongoing discussions on how quickly and uniformly states will operationalise the labour codes, a factor widely seen as crucial to determining their impact on India’s workforce and industrial landscape.
