India notifies wage code; 48-hour work week cap under new labour codes

Puneet Gupta, partner at EY India, said the new rules are not clear on the categories of workers who will be covered under the definition of overtime.

Under Section 83 of the Industrial Relations Code, the government set up a National Reskilling Fund to support retrenched workers with upskilling for re-employment; the fund is financed by employers contributing 15 days' salary for every retrenchment.

States will have to notify their own rules, taking cue from the Centre’s notifications. West Bengal, previously the only holdout, will also notify the rules in line with the Centre following BJP’s assembly election victory.

For the other two codes, old rules will remain in force until final notification of the new ones.

The Centre published final rules under the wages and industrial relations codes. Weekly working hours are capped at 48, with overtime payable at double the defined hourly wages beyond that limit. The central rules will largely apply to establishments where the central government is the 'appropriate govt' and to CPSEs and their contractors. The rules empower the Centre to set minimum wages and the national floor wage and prescribe the manner for timely payment.

Draft rules under the four new Labour Codes were published for stakeholder consultation.