4-day work week, strike notice: Key things in new labour codes

The Government is set to form rules on the four proposed labour codes. The new rules are likely to bring radical changes in the way India works, some of them include a four-day workweek, free medical check-up and online government portal for workers in the unorganised sector.

Under the Labour Ministry, about 44 central labour laws will be converted into four broad codes -- Code on Wages, Industrial Relations, Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) and Social Security Codes.

Here are key things to know about the new norms:

1. The employer may be enabled to introduce a four-day work week, but the 48 hours of work a week continues to stay. Thus a 12-hour workday will force the employer to provide three paid leaves a week.

2. Union Labour Secretary Apurva Chandra said on Monday that the new norms were being introduced to keep up with the changes in the work culture and allow flexibility.

3. The Centre has also proposed free medical check-ups for workers through Employees State Insurance Corporation.

4. According to the new norms, companies with less than 300 workers won't require government permission to sack employees or to shut down the plant.

5. It also mandates the employees to provide 60 days’ strike notice.

6. The government aims to create an online portal for the workers in the unorganised sector, gig workers, platform workers and migrants who move to work.

7. The portal will aid these workers, who are often not considered employees, in areas of health, housing, skill, insurance, credit and food schemes for such workers.

8. They will also be provided with an incentive for one year for accidental and disability cover under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).

9. Government has also kickstarted four new surveys of for Migrant workers, Domestic workers, Employment generated by Professionals and Transport Sector.

10. The Labour Bureau will also commission the All India Establishment based Employment Survey.