The rules have changed. The paperwork may not have caught up.

• Four codes: wages, industrial relations, social security, and occupational safety, health and working conditions
• Made effective from 21 November 2025, replacing 29 existing central labour laws, as the Ministry of Labour and Employment announced
• Single registration, a single licence and a single return are described as aims of the new framework
• Central rules were reported as notified in May 2026; state rules are at different stages
• In the transition, expect some forms and procedures to still be settling

Ask your adviser what is in force for your state and sector as of today.

Hypothetical example: a small retailer has twelve staff, none with a written letter. Over a week she drafts one standard letter, fills in individual details and has each person sign a copy. A made-up case, showing that this is a modest job, not a project.

• The Ministry describes appointment letters as mandatory for all workers, where earlier there was no such general requirement
• What a good letter covers: designation, wages, hours, place of work, probation, notice and social security entitlements
• Wage slips on or before payment of wages, and attendance, wage, overtime and deduction records, which the Ministry's handbook says to preserve for five years
• Display requirements on notice boards in the languages the rules prescribe
• Why a one-time audit of all existing employees' letters is a sensible first step

• Under the Code on Wages, 'wages' includes basic pay, dearness allowance and retaining allowance; certain items are excluded, but if the excluded items together exceed 50% of total pay, the excess is counted as wages
• Why that matters for any calculation based on wages, such as contributions and gratuity, and why your CA should check how your salary structure stands
• Wage periods and payment deadlines; for monthly wages, before the seventh day of the following month, per the Ministry's handbook
• Authorised deductions only, and deductions within a stated cap
• Payment of all dues within two working days of an employee leaving
• Overtime at no less than twice the normal rate for covered employees, and equal pay regardless of gender
• Minimum wages for all employees, and bonus for eligible employees under the Code

• Provident fund: establishments with twenty or more employees, according to the Code on Social Security's First Schedule
• Employees' State Insurance: establishments with ten or more persons, with some exceptions; the Ministry describes coverage as voluntary for smaller establishments in certain cases and mandatory where even one employee is in a notified hazardous occupation
• Gratuity: shops and establishments with ten or more employees, among others; payable after five years of continuous service, and after one year for fixed-term employees; calculated at fifteen days' wages for each completed year, subject to a ceiling
• Maternity benefit of 26 weeks for eligible women, and a crèche requirement for establishments with 50 or more employees
• Your own headcount and your CA's confirmation decide what applies

• The Ministry describes fixed-term employees as entitled to benefits and wages equal to permanent employees in comparable work
• Gratuity eligibility for fixed-term employees after one year
• Contract labour provisions in the safety code apply to establishments with 50 or more contract workers, and a principal employer has responsibilities for contract workers' welfare and, if the contractor defaults, wages
• Why contractor and manpower-agency arrangements should be reviewed

• Establishments employing ten or more employees fall under the safety code's registration provisions, and the Ministry's handbook describes registration within 60 days of existence for the central sphere
• A free annual health check-up for workers above 40, as the Ministry describes it
• Safe workplace, drinking water, toilets, rest areas and welfare facilities, with more required of larger employers
• Women may work at night in all types of work, subject to their consent and safety measures
• Grievance redressal committees for industrial establishments with twenty or more workers, and standing orders for those with 300 or more

• Step one: find out whether the central or state government is the appropriate government for you, and what your state has notified
• Step two: count headcount, by category, and see which thresholds you are above
• Step three: audit appointment letters, pay structure, wage slips and records
• Step four: ask your CA to check provident fund, ESI and gratuity positions against the new wage definition
• Step five: update policies, notices and registers, and set a date to review again