🔥 FREE APFC 2026 | The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 | Part-1 l Lecture - 10

Course Context and Plan

The instructor begins the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, after completing the Code on Wages in preceding lectures. The course is intended to support APFC and other labour-law examinations.

The Industrial Relations Code section is planned as 13 lectures: 10 covering theory and three devoted to previous-year questions. This first lecture introduces the Code’s background, scope, and key definitions.

Background to the Code

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020, combines and replaces three earlier laws:

1. Trade Unions Act, 1926
2. Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946
3. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947

The instructor explains the original purposes of these laws and related developments:

• Trade union recognition: Workers sought the ability to organize and represent themselves collectively, with legal protection for union activity. The lecture connects this demand to developments in Britain, labour activism in India, and recommendations for legal recognition.
• Written workplace rules: Before the Standing Orders Act, workers could be unclear about workplace rules and disciplinary consequences. The 1946 Act made written service rules necessary.
• Dispute resolution: Industrial growth and an increasing workforce led to disputes over wages, working hours, dismissals, and working conditions. The Trade Disputes Act of 1929 was an early attempt to regulate disputes. Rule 81A of the Defence of India Rules, 1942, introduced government intervention, conciliation, and adjudication. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, then established a broader framework for investigation and settlement.
• Consolidation: The Code brings the three laws together to simplify the framework and consolidate definitions, procedures, and penalties.

Key Definitions and Concepts

Average Pay

Average pay is calculated using:

• Monthly-paid workers: Three complete calendar months
• Weekly-paid workers: Four complete weeks
• Daily-paid workers: 12 working days

If a worker has worked for a shorter period, the calculation is based on the actual period worked.

Award

An award is a decision in an industrial dispute made by a court, tribunal, National Industrial Tribunal, or arbitrator.

Certifying Officer

The appropriate government appoints the Certifying Officer. For central establishments, the instructor says that the Additional Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) serves for all India, while Regional Labour Commissioners (Central) serve in their respective regions.

The officer’s specific certification duties will be covered later.

Closure

A closure is the permanent closing of a place of employment, or of part of it.

Controlled Industry

An industry may be brought under Union Government control by a central law when the government considers this to be in the public interest.

Fixed-Term Employment

Fixed-term employment is for a specified period. A fixed-term worker doing the same or similar work as a permanent worker should receive comparable wages and allowances, as well as statutory benefits on a proportionate basis.

The instructor emphasizes that fixed-term workers should not be denied benefits merely because they have not completed a longer qualifying period set for permanent workers. The lecture also states that a fixed-term worker who completes one year of service is eligible for gratuity.

Industry

The lecture describes an industry as systematic activity carried out through cooperation between employers and workers to produce, supply, or distribute goods or services to meet human needs.

Whether the activity involves capital investment or generates profit is not decisive. The instructor identifies exclusions such as:

• Charitable or philanthropic activity
• Government sovereign functions
• Defence research
• Atomic energy
• Space-related activity
• Domestic service

Industrial Dispute

An industrial dispute may arise:

• Between employers
• Between workers
• Between an employer and workers

The dispute must relate to employment, non-employment, terms of employment, or working conditions. The lecture says that an individual worker’s dismissal, termination, or discharge can also qualify as an industrial dispute.

Industrial Establishment or Undertaking

Where an organization has separate industrial and non-industrial units, the unit carrying out industrial activity may be treated as an industrial establishment.

Where both kinds of activity take place within one establishment, the instructor says the establishment is treated as industrial if industrial activity is its predominant activity.

Lay-Off

A lay-off occurs when an employer cannot provide work to a worker whose name is on the muster roll because of circumstances such as:

• A shortage of coal, power, or raw materials
• Excess accumulated stock
• Machinery breakdown
• Natural calamity
• A related reason

If a worker reports for duty but is not given work within two hours, the lecture says the worker is treated as laid off for that day. If the employer asks the worker to return in the second half of the day, the amount of lay-off depends on whether work is provided then.

Lockout and Strike

• Lockout: A temporary closing of a workplace or suspension of work by the employer.
• Strike: Workers stop or refuse to work, generally to press demands. The instructor includes work stoppages such as a pen-down action and says that when 50% or more of workers take casual leave on the same day, it is treated as a strike.

The basic distinction is that a strike is initiated by workers, while a lockout is initiated by the employer. A permanent closure is distinct from a temporary lockout.

Retrenchment

The lecture describes retrenchment as an employer’s termination of a worker’s service, other than termination by way of disciplinary punishment.

It distinguishes retrenchment from:

• Voluntary retirement
• Retirement on superannuation
• Expiry or non-renewal of a fixed-term contract
• Termination due to ill health

Settlement

A settlement is an agreement reached to resolve an industrial dispute. The instructor says it must be written, signed by the parties, and sent to the appropriate government authority or a conciliation officer.

Trade Union

A trade union is described as an organization formed to protect workers’ interests and support orderly relations between workers and employers. The lecture also discusses a federation of two or more trade unions.

The instructor mentions limits or exclusions concerning certain business, partnership, employment, and goodwill-related agreements.

Speakers and Sources

• Speaker: One instructor, unnamed in the subtitles, presenting the lecture for PYQ Pedia.
• Sources discussed: The Trade Unions Act, 1926; the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946; the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; the Trade Disputes Act, 1929; and Rule 81A of the Defence of India Rules, 1942.