Commerce Paper ll(lndustrial Relations) IR Code 2020
I Industrial Relations Code 2020 I • Designed to include new forms of semi
I Background and purpose
formal employment.
Employer
• Person with ultimate control over the
• The IR Code merges three major laws:
establishment's operations.
Trade Unions Act 1926, Standing Orders
• Includes occupier, manager, contractor,
Act 1946 and Industrial Disputes Act 1947
or managing agent.
into one consolidated framework.
• Responsible for compliance, discipline
• Earlier statutes had overlapping
and dispute matters.
definitions and procedural confusion.
• Ensures accountability regardless of
• Multiplicity of authorities created delay,
ownership or contractual structure.
inconsistency and workplace
Industrial dispute
uncertainty.
• Any disagreement relating to
• The new Code harmonises union
processes, standing orders and dispute employment, non-employment or terms
and conditions of work.
machinery.
• It reflects modern workforce needs, digital • Covers disputes between employer and
tools and structured dialogue. workers or among workers themselves.
• • Includes matters like wages, discipline,
Objective is to strengthen industrial peace
and national productivity. retrenchment, closure and safety.
Trade union
Objectives of the Industrial • A collective formed to regulate relations
Relations Code between workers and employers.
• Promote consolidation and eliminate • Provides legal identity, rights, immunities
regulatory overlap. and responsible organisational structure.
• Strengthen formal collective bargaining Fixed-term employment
institutions. • Contract worker hired for a specified
• Provide predictable, time-bound dispute period under uniform wage and benefit
resolution. conditions.
• Balance managerial flexibility with worker • Receives the same benefits as regular
security.
workers on a proportionate basis.
• Encourage cooperative labour-
I Scope and coverage of IR code
management relationships.
• Applies to all industrial establishments
• Support digital, transparent and
irrespective of sector or ownership.
accountable IR systems.
• • Includes manufacturing, mining,
Improve long-term industrial harmony and
construction, logistics, warehousing and
national competitiveness.
I Key definitions
service units.
• Standing Orders mandatory for
establishments employing 300+ workers.
Worker
• Lay-off, retrenchment and closure
• A person employed for manual,
permission requirements apply at 300+
operational, technical, skilled or clerical
workers.
work for wages.
• Covers permanent, temporary, casual,
• Includes supervisory roles up to a notified
contract and fixed-term employees.
wage limit.
• Applicable to establishment-level and
• Excludes those employed mainly in
multi-unit disputes.
managerial or administrative capacity.
• Recognition provisions apply wherever
• Covers permanent, temporary, fixed-term,
registered unions exist.
contractual and casual workers to ensure
broad protection. • Dispute resolution system applies to both
public and private enterprises.
[Link] by CA RS Agrawal Rankers Classes 1