Himani after passing of the Professional examination conducted by the MM Professional Institute underwent the requisite training and got the membership of the Institute. She also applied and got the Certificate of Practi

CS Professional · Labour Laws and Practice · PYQS · December 2024
Himani after passing of the Professional examination conducted by the MM Professional Institute underwent the requisite training and got the membership of the Institute. She also applied and got the Certificate of Practice. However, Himani was not sure in which field she should start the practice looking to the competition in each of the area, whether it be the company related issues or taxation and the new comers have to face the challenges too. Himani's father, Rakesh is an Advocate and has been in practice for matters relating to the labour laws. Himani used to spend most of the time in her father's office and observed that there is a good scope in doing practice in labour audit. Rakesh used to discuss with Himani the cases he used to plead in the labour court and most of them were relating to the Provident Fund, Child Labour, Contract Labour, Workmen's Compensation and Industrial Disputes. Rakesh also introduced Himani to some his corporate clients. Very soon Himani was entrusted to do the labour audit for some of the companies on which various provisions of the labour laws applies. One day Himani was invited by the City Law College to address the law students on the topic of the Industrial Relations Code, 2019. Himani agreed and prepared her speech and addressed the law students, faculties and distinguished guests which were present in the seminar. The speech of Himani was well appreciated. During the question-answer session, one of the law students raised a query that Parliament had enacted number of labour laws for regulating employment and conditions of service of workers. Whenever a new law is enacted, it prescribes certain registers to be maintained by the employers and for furnishing of returns of various details to the concerned enforcing authorities. This creates lot of complications on the part of the employer in dealing with compliances of these provisions. Whether the submission of multiplicity of returns can be exempted? Himani also addressed this issue to the satisfaction of concerned students and for the knowledge of the audience. Jhanvi, a law faculty of the college, appreciated the speech given by Himani. She also asked Himani, how India has made specific representation of the major deliberative organ of the International Labour Organisation. Himani also elaborated over this issue. At last, Jhanvi gave the vote of thanks. One day, a case was brought into the knowledge of Rakesh (father of Himani). In this case, there is a factory, in which the workers were agitating against the management and the union leader appealed to the workmen for not going into the factory for work. However, some of the workers ignored the command of the union leader and attended their work schedule in the factory. At the end of the working hours, when the workers (who attended the factory work) were returning to their home, were attacked by other parties and were severally injured. The injured workers asked the management of the factory to provide them the amount of insurance on the plea that it is an employment injury. Based on the given facts, answer the following questions: Being a student, undergoing the required training under the Himani, you have to prepare a brief note on the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 which can be used for addressing in the City Law College.

Answer & Explanation:

Note on The Industrial Relations Code, 2019 The Industrial Relations Code, 2019 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on November 28, 2019. The Code was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour. The report of the Standing Committee was placed before both the Houses of the Parliament on September 15, 2020. The Bill was reintroduced as The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 in Parliament and was passed by the Lok Sabha on 22nd September 2020, Rajya Sabha on 23rd September 2020, and received the assent of the President on 28th September 2020. According to the statement of objects and reasons of the Code, it intends to amalgamate, simplify, and rationalise the relevant provisions of the following three central labour enactments relating to industrial relations, namely: - the Trade Unions Act, 1926; the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946; and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The amalgamation of the said laws will facilitate the implementation and remove the multiplicity of definitions and authorities without compromising on the basic concepts of welfare and benefits to workers. The proposed legislation, namely, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 would bring the use of technology in its enforcement. All these measures would bring transparency and accountability which would lead to more effective enforcement. The facilitation for ease of compliance of labour laws will promote in setting up of more enterprises thus catalysing the creation of employment opportunities. The salient features of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, inter alia, are as follows: - to define the expression "fixed-term employment" to mean the engagement of a worker on the basis of a written contract of employment for a fixed period. The fixed-term employee will get all statutory benefits like social security, wages, etc, at par with the regular employee who is doing work of the same or similar nature; to define the term "industry" with certain exceptions; the definition of "strike" is proposed to be modified to include mass casual leave within its ambit; to define the term "worker" to include persons in supervisory capacity getting wages up to fifteen thousand rupees within its ambit. At present, under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the definition of 'worker' includes a person in a supervisory capacity getting a salary up to ten thousand rupees per month; to provide for the obligation on the part of the industrial establishment pertaining to mines, factories, and plantations having one hundred or more workers to take prior permission of the appropriate Government before lay-off, retrenchment, or closure. However, the appropriate Government is proposed to be empowered to modify such threshold number of workers by notification; to setup a re-skilling fund for the training of retrenched employees, to which the employers will pay a contribution of fifteen days' wages or such other days as may be notified by the Central Government in case of retrenchment of workers; to provide for a sole negotiating union in an industrial establishment for negotiating with the employer of the industrial establishment, on such matters as may be provided by rules. In case of more than one Trade Union of workers, a Trade Union would be designated as a sole negotiating union if it has the support of seventy-five percent. or more of the workers on the muster roll in an establishment and if no Trade Union has such support strength on the muster roll of an establishment, then a negotiating council will be constituted for negotiation; to provide for the Industrial Tribunal to be the adjudicating body to decide appeals against the decision of the conciliation officer in place of multiple adjudicating bodies like the Court of Inquiry, Board of Conciliation, and Labour Courts; the maximum number of members in the Grievance Redressal Committee has been increased from six to ten; provisions are being made to have two-member Industrial Tribunals, with the second member being from the administrative side, in place of a single member Labour Court and Industrial Tribunal at present. Further, the Tribunal will be empowered to execute the award as a decree of a civil court, which will facilitate the speedy disposal of disputes.

Topics: Labour Codes

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