INTRODUCTION
Labour, enumerated as entry 24 & 25, falls under the Concurrent List of the Constitution of India. Therefore, both Parliament and state legislatures are competent to enact laws regulating labour. The Union Government stated that there are more than 100 state and 40 central laws regulating various aspects of labour such as resolution of industrial disputes, working conditions, social security and wages, etc. Pursuant to the recommendations of the Second National Commission on Labour, which submitted its report in June, 2002, the union legislature passed The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (hereinafter as the ‘Code’). It was re-introduced in Lok Sabha by the Union Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar, on September 19, 2020, with the new changes which lead to the withdrawal of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019 (hereinafter as ‘OSH Code, 2019’). As the OSH Code, 2019 was referred to the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, which suggested substantial number modifications to the code and also in the light of Covid-19 pandemic, the Union Government also proposed certain changes to the OSH Code, 2019. The Code consolidates 13 existing Acts regulating health, safety, and working conditions, which include the Factories Act, 1948; the Mines Act, 1952; and the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970. The OSH Code intends to amalgamate, simplify, consolidate and rationalise more than 600 provisions of the 13 laws mentioned in a single code consisting of around 143 provisions.
EXTENT
The Code emphasizes on health, safety and welfare of the workers employed in various sectors such as industry, trade, business, manufacturing, factory, motor transport undertaking, building and other construction works, newspaper establishments, audio-video production, plantation, mine and dock-work and service sectors. It also aims to provide a broader legislative framework, thereby, enabling the workmen to secure just and humane working conditions and, enables the government at both the union and the state level to make rules and regulations in consonance with the emerging technologies and developments in the industrial sector.
IMPLICATIONS OR CHANGES IN THE LABOUR JURISPRUDENCE
The Code aims at reducing the burden of the employers as it replaces multiple registrations under various enactments to a single common registration, one licence and one return, ultimately creating a centrally consolidated database which will be helpful under ease of doing business policies of the Governments. The Code places an obligation on employers to conduct free annual health check-ups for their employees, to ensure the disposal of hazardous and toxic waste including e-waste, to issue an appointment letter to every employee on their appointment in the establishment.
CONSTITUTION OF ADVISORY BOARDS AT BOTH NATIONAL & STATE LEVEL
The Code states that the Central Government shall constitute a National Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board which will discharge the functions conferred on it by or under the Code and to advise to the Central Government on the matters relating to standards, rules and regulation to be framed under the Code. The State Government shall constitute a similar type of board to be called the State Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board which will advise on the matters arising out of the administration of the Code as may be referred to it by the State Government.
CONSTITUTION OF SAFETY COMMITTEES
The appropriate government may require a constitution of safety committees in certain establishments, and for a certain class of workers, consisting of representatives of the employer and the workers, however, the number of employer representatives shall not exceed the employee representatives. The function of these committees will be to act as a liaison between employers and employees. In any establishment which is a factory employing 500 workers or more, or a factory engaged in hazardous work employing 250 workmen or more, or a building or construction work employing 250 workers or more, or a mine where more than 100 workmen are employed in ordinary course; the employer will appoint safety officers according to the qualifications prescribed by the appropriate government.
In another welcome step towards providing some semblance of social security to the unorganised sector workers, the new Code provides for the establishment of a Social Security Fund. Any establishment having 100 workers shall have a canteen facility and that should be provided by the employer. For the appointment of welfare officers under the Code, the minimum number of workmen in any establishment is 250.
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
Workers cannot be subjected to work for more than 6 days in a week, one day off every week and will be entitled to one day off for every 20 days of work. Workers or Employees are entitled to receive wages for the work done overtime at the rate of twice the normal wage rate as per the scheme of the Code. Under the Code provisions have been made for the employment of female employees by the employer for working beyond 7 pm till 6 am (basically night shifts) with their consent and conditions relating to safety, holiday, working hours. Furthermore, the women workers are entitled to be employed in all establishments for any kind of work including hazardous ones subject to the conditions that the appropriate government may require the employer to provide adequate safeguards prior to their employment in hazardous or dangerous operations. The Code provides that the wages to the audio-visual workers, shall be disbursed electronically and this will ensure transparency, thereby helping in keeping and maintenance of the records as well.
FALLACIES IN THE NEW CODE
As the Code consolidates the provisions of the 13 legislations related to the subject but at the same time it is unable to simplify them or be all inclusive while dealing with the matters dealt by those laws. These include provisions on registration, duties of employers, and filing of returns. It also includes additional provisions which are applicable to the specific types of workers such as contract labour, inter-state migrant workers, audio-visual workers, or those in mines, beedi & cigar workers, construction workers, factories, and plantations.
Major Safety Issues sidelined & some sectors left out
For example, the Code requires that any person suffering from deafness or giddiness may not be employed in construction activity which involves a risk of accident. The question to be posed here is why such a general safety requirement is not provided for all workers or why the legislature ignored such an important aspect. Similarly, the Code provides for registration of employment contracts for audio-visual workers, raising the question of why there is a special treatment for this category. Furthermore, the disputes related to the contracts of audio-visual workers will be resolved by the dispute resolution mechanisms devised by the appropriate government, if still the dispute remains unresolved the parties may invoke the jurisdiction of the Industrial Tribunal established by the appropriate government under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The Code under section 2(1)(zx)(a)(i) contains health and safety provisions for workers in plantations measuring at least five hectares. In its report on the OSH Code, 2019 the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour noted an assurance of the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, that workers in plantations measuring less than five hectares would be covered in the Code on Social Security, 2020. However, the definition of a ‘plantation’ in the OSH Code, 2019 retained the five-hectare threshold. This recommendation has not been incorporated in the Code.
NO PROPER FORUMS FOR APPEAL
The Code bars the civil courts from hearing any matters under the code. In some matters where persons are aggrieved by the orders of authorities such as, Inspector-cum-facilitator in the case of factories, or by the revocation of a license for contractors, the Code under section 119 (6) provides for an administrative appellate authority to be notified by the appropriate government. However, it does not provide a proper judicial mechanism for hearing disputes under the code but provides a quasi-judicial one to be notified by the appropriate government as opposed to the earlier regime, for example the functions and constitution of a labour court were clearly laid down under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. It can be argued that the bar on civil courts from hearing matters under the code, deny aggrieved persons an opportunity to challenge certain issues such as relating to the contractual terms in case of contract labour before a civil court of competent jurisdiction, as such matters may be governed by the terms of contract falling under Indian Contract Act, 1872. The only judicial remedy available to a person aggrieved is to file a writ petition before the relevant High Court, as the High Court is vested with power of superintendence over the courts and tribunals functioning under its territorial jurisdiction.
WEAKENING OF THE INSPECTION SYSTEM
The Code weakens the inspection system in numerous ways. To make matters adverse, the code is silent on the powers of inspectors envisaged by ILO Conventions ratified by India, the provisions such as free entry at any time and without prior notice and as frequently as possible to secure effective application of laws by the establishments of Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 are diluted by the passing of the Code.
EXCESSIVE DELEGATION OF POWERS & REGRESSIVE APPROACH TOWARDS DEFINING KEY TERMS
Under the Constitution, the legislature is the law making organ and the executive is responsible for their implementation. It is often observed that the legislature enacts a law on a specific entry/subject within its domain covering the general principles and policies, and further, delegates detailed rule-making to the government thereby, allowing expediency and flexibility. However, time and again the courts have reiterated that certain essential functions and powers should not be delegated to the government which include, framing the legislative policy on a particular subject matter to determine the principles of the law. Also, it is the general principle that any rule made as a delegated legislation should also remain within the scope of the parent legislation. The Code in section 127, also gives the appropriate government the power to exempt any establishment for a period to be specified in the notification providing exemption. Further, it also enables the state governments to exempt any new factory from any or a group of provisions of the Code in the interest of creating more economic activity and employment. Therefore, the appropriate government has wide discretion in providing exemptions under the Code. Every factory generates employment, and public interest could be interpreted broadly. Also the exemptions could cover a wide range of provisions including those related to hours of work, safety standards, retrenchment process, collective bargaining rights, contract labour. The low numeric thresholds with respect to the number of workers would create adverse incentives for establishment sizes to remain small, in order to avoid complying with labour regulation and therefore the real intention of the legislature will remain unfulfilled as the laws will not be applicable to them. It is worth noting that the Factories Act, 1948 only permitted exemptions from its provisions during the cases of public emergency, and such exemptions were limited to three months. The Code under its scheme also envisages similar provision but however, the life of such exemptions is that of one year at a time. But the drawback here is the regressive approach of the legislature when it defines the phrase ‘Public Emergency’, in explanation to section 128 of the Code, as a state of a grave exigency, whereby, the security of the union or any part of territory is threatened due to war, or external aggression, or internal disturbance. Implications of this could be that in near future the government may invoke the internal disturbance condition to suspend the application of the code and this will be a severe blow to the rights of the workers across India.
Also, this situation could be done for indefinite time as the maximum life for a notification issued after invoking this provision is one year, but this would be circumvented by re-issuing the notifications.
CONCLUSION
The (in)effectiveness of the Code and the rules made thereunder, will be tested in due times when the same will be implemented. These reforms were to see the light of the day this year but due to another deadly wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Union has deferred the same by another year. Also passing of these new laws is nothing short of packing the old & aged wine, into some new bottles and displaying them, so that it may attract some new customers to the tavern.
The Code under section 2(1)(zx)(a)(i) contains health and safety provisions for workers in plantations measuring at least five hectares. In its report on the OSH Code, 2019 the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour noted an assurance of the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, that workers in plantations measuring less than five hectares would be covered in the Code on Social Security, 2020. However, the definition of a ‘plantation’ in the OSH Code, 2019 retained the five-hectare threshold. This recommendation has not been incorporated in the Code.