Practice area
Labour & Employment
Workforce structuring, the new labour codes, industrial relations and the disputes that follow termination.
A Framework in Transition
India's employment law is consolidating. Four labour codes — on wages, industrial relations, social security, and occupational safety, health and working conditions — are intended to replace a long list of central enactments. Implementation has been staged and depends on state rules being notified, so employers currently manage a mixed position: some obligations under the codes, others still under the legislation they replace.
Two changes matter most in planning terms. The definition of "wages" for statutory contribution and gratuity purposes is being harmonised, which affects salary structuring where allowances have been used to limit contribution liability. And the industrial relations framework raises the threshold for standing orders and retrenchment approvals while formally recognising fixed-term employment.
State-level compliance remains substantial regardless — shops and establishments registration, professional tax, labour welfare fund, contract labour licensing, and the sexual harassment prevention obligations that apply to every workplace above ten workers.
How We Support You
We advise on the employment documentation and structures that sit under a workforce: contracts and appointment letters, employee handbooks and policies, fixed-term and consultancy arrangements, non-compete and confidentiality provisions and how far they are actually enforceable in India, ESOP documentation, and secondment and cross-border deputation.
On the compliance side we run diligence and audits, advise on contract labour and gig arrangements, help set up internal committees under the POSH Act, and manage the sensitive cases — investigations, disciplinary process, performance exits, retrenchment and closure, and the settlements that end them. Where a case becomes contentious, the same team handles the tribunal work.
Who We Act For
Employers across manufacturing, technology services, financial services, healthcare and retail — from multinational subsidiaries setting up an Indian workforce to established plants managing a unionised environment. We also advise senior executives on their own terms of appointment and exit.
What We Handle
The work inside this practice. Each has its own page setting out what it covers, how it is sequenced and where it is heard.
Employment Documentation and Policy
Employment contracts and appointment letters, senior executive and managing director terms, employee handbooks, leave, remote work and moonlighting policies, code of conduct, and disciplinary and grievance procedures aligned to standing orders where they apply.
Read moreLabour Code Transition and Compliance
Gap analysis against the four codes, wage definition and salary restructuring implications for provident fund, gratuity and bonus, registration and licensing under central and state law, statutory registers and returns, and the compliance calendar.
Read moreContract Labour and Flexible Workforce
Principal employer obligations and licensing under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, contractor agreements and indemnities, deemed employment and permanency risk, fixed-term employment, gig and platform arrangements, and independent contractor classification.
Read moreIndustrial Relations
Standing orders certification, trade union recognition and negotiation, long-term settlements and wage agreements, strike, lock-out and go-slow situations, disciplinary enquiries and domestic enquiry procedure, and conciliation before the labour authorities.
Read moreTerminations, Retrenchment and Closure
Individual exits and performance-based separations, group retrenchment and the notice and approval requirements, plant closure and transfer of undertaking consequences, severance structuring, and settlement and release documentation.
Read morePOSH and Workplace Investigations
Internal Committee constitution and training, policy drafting and display obligations, conducting and advising on inquiries under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, annual reporting, and appeals.
Read moreEmployment Litigation
Proceedings before Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals, wrongful termination and reinstatement claims, provident fund and ESI assessments and appeals, gratuity and wage claims, injunctions to enforce confidentiality obligations, and writ petitions against labour authority orders.
Read more
How the Work Is Sequenced
Indicative stages and what each produces. Timelines depend on the case. Where we can give a realistic range, the FAQs below say so.
Position review
Headcount structure, entity and state footprint, existing contracts and policies, and current registrations mapped against what the applicable law requires. Output is a compliance gap list ranked by exposure.
Documentation
Contracts, policies and handbook drafted or revised, with standing orders alignment where the establishment is covered. Drafting takes account of what Indian courts will actually enforce.
Implementation
Registrations and licences, committee constitution and training, registers and returns, and manager briefing — the step most often skipped, and the one that determines whether a policy holds up in an enquiry.
Sensitive cases
Investigation, disciplinary process or exit run to a documented procedure, with the record built as the process goes rather than reconstructed afterwards.
Contentious stage
Conciliation, tribunal proceedings or writ petition, with a settlement assessment kept live throughout — most employment cases are better resolved than tried.
Jurisdictions, Forums and Regulators
Where cases in this practice are heard, filed or determined.
- Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka
- Office of the Labour Commissioner and conciliation officers
- Employees' Provident Fund Organisation and Employees' State Insurance Corporation authorities and appellate tribunals
- Controlling Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
- Local Committees and appellate authorities under the POSH Act, 2013
- High Court of Telangana; High Court of Andhra Pradesh; High Court of Karnataka
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Frequently Asked Questions
General information about how this practice works. It is not legal advice and does not create a lawyer–client relationship.
Are the four labour codes in force?
They have been enacted, and implementation has been staged and depends on the corresponding state rules. The practical position for most employers is mixed — some obligations under the codes, others still under the earlier legislation. We advise on the current position for your specific states and establishment type rather than on the codes in the abstract.
Are non-compete clauses enforceable in India?
Post-termination non-compete restraints are generally unenforceable under Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, which voids agreements in restraint of trade. Restrictions during employment, garden leave, and obligations protecting confidential information and trade secrets stand on much firmer ground, and non-solicitation of clients and employees is enforced more readily than a bare non-compete. We draft to the protection that will actually hold.
Can we terminate an employee at will if the contract allows notice pay?
Not straightforwardly. Whether the employee is a "workman" determines a great deal, as does the establishment's size and whether standing orders apply. Retrenchment carries notice, compensation and — above certain thresholds — government approval requirements. Terminations recorded as performance exits without a documented process are the ones most often reopened at a tribunal.
Do POSH obligations apply to a small office?
The Internal Committee requirement applies where an establishment has ten or more employees. But the substantive obligations — a policy, awareness, and providing a route to complain — apply regardless, and a complaint at a smaller workplace goes to the Local Committee. Annual reporting is also required.
We engage workers through a contractor. What is our exposure?
As principal employer you have registration obligations, a duty to ensure the contractor pays wages and makes statutory contributions, and secondary liability if the contractor defaults. If the contract labour arrangement is a sham — you direct and control the workers day to day — a permanency claim becomes realistic. Contractor documentation and actual practice both need to line up.
How should we handle a workplace investigation?
Appoint the right decision-maker, define the scope in writing, give the employee the allegations and a genuine opportunity to respond, keep contemporaneous records, and keep the investigator separate from the person who will decide. Procedural failures, more than factual ones, are what tribunals set aside.