Constitutional Framework of Labour Law in India

Every provision of the Labour Codes rests on the Constitution. The Seventh Schedule decides which legislature may make labour laws, the fundamental rights set minimum protections that no employer or law may breach, and the directive principles describe the social order that labour legislation is meant to build. This note sets out the legislative entries, the rights and directive principles that matter most, the leading cases, and how the Codes give effect to them.

1. Legislative Competence

Figure 1: Labour in the Seventh Schedule

• Concurrent subject. Most of labour law falls in List III, so both Parliament and the State Legislatures may legislate under Article 246(2). The four Codes are Central laws made under these entries.
• Repugnancy, Article 254(1). Where a State law on a Concurrent subject conflicts with a Central law, the Central law prevails to the extent of the repugnancy.
• Presidential assent, Article 254(2). A State law reserved for and receiving the President's assent prevails in that State despite the conflict. Rajasthan used this route in 2014 to raise the threshold for prior permission for lay-off, retrenchment and closure from 100 to 300 workers, a figure the IR Code later adopted.
• International obligations, Article 253. Parliament may legislate to implement treaties, including ILO conventions. India has ratified six of the eight core conventions, but not Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining.
• Shared implementation. The State Government is the appropriate Government for most establishments, so States frame rules, fix minimum wages and enforce the Codes within their territory (Topic 3)

2. Fundamental Rights

Figure 2: Rights that shape labour law

Equality and equal pay

• Randhir Singh v Union of India (1982). Equal pay for equal work is not a fundamental right in itself but a constitutional goal under Articles 14, 16 and 39(d), enforceable where unequal pay is arbitrary.
• State of Punjab v Jagjit Singh (2016). Temporary employees doing the same work as regular employees are entitled at least to the minimum of the pay scale of regular employees.

Association and strikes

• All India Bank Employees' Association v National Industrial Tribunal (1962). Article 19(1)(c) protects the right to form unions, but does not carry with it a guaranteed right to collective bargaining or to strike.
• T.K. Rangarajan v Government of Tamil Nadu (2003). Government employees have no fundamental, legal, moral or equitable right to strike.
• Under the Codes. Strikes are regulated rather than prohibited; the IR Code requires notice and bars strikes during conciliation and adjudication (Topic 15)

Life, forced labour and children

• PUDR v Union of India (1982). In the Asiad workers' case the Court held that paying less than the minimum wage is forced labour under Article 23, and that the Article operates against private employers as well.
• Bandhua Mukti Morcha v Union of India (1984). Article 21, read with the directive principles, requires just and humane conditions of work; the State must identify, release and rehabilitate bonded labourers.
• CERC v Union of India (1995). The right to health and medical care of workers is part of Article 21; asbestos industry employers were directed to protect workers' health.
• M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu (1996). On child labour in the Sivakasi match industry, the Court directed employers to pay ₹20,000 for each child employed in hazardous work into a welfare fund, enforcing Article 24.
• Vishaka v State of Rajasthan (1997). Guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace, drawn from Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21, later replaced by the POSH Act, 2013.

3. Directive Principles

Figure 3: Directive principles behind labour legislation

• Status. Directive principles are not enforceable in court (Article 37) but are fundamental in governance and guide the interpretation of labour statutes.
• Articles 39(d) and 43. Equal pay and a living wage; given effect by universal minimum wages, the floor wage and the equal remuneration provisions of the Code on Wages (Topics 5, 8)
• Articles 41 and 42. Public assistance, humane conditions and maternity relief; given effect by the Social Security and OSH Codes (Topics 19 to 35)
• Article 43A. Inserted by the 42nd Amendment (1976); reflected in works committees and grievance redressal committees (Topic 13)
• Beneficial construction. Because labour statutes give effect to these goals, courts read them in favour of the worker where the words reasonably allow.

4. Frequently Asked Questions

Is labour a Central or a State subject?

It is mainly a Concurrent subject under Entries 22, 23 and 24 of List III, so both Parliament and the States may legislate. Labour and safety in mines and oilfields (Entry 55) and disputes concerning Union employees (Entry 61) are in the Union List. A conflicting State law gives way to a Central law unless it has received Presidential assent under Article 254(2).

Is the right to strike a fundamental right?

No. Article 19(1)(c) guarantees the right to form associations and unions, but the Supreme Court held in All India Bank Employees' Association v National Industrial Tribunal (1962) that it does not include a guaranteed right to strike, and in T.K. Rangarajan (2003) that government employees have no right to strike. Strikes are a statutory matter regulated by the Industrial Relations Code.

How do the directive principles shape the Labour Codes?

The directive principles are not enforceable in court, but the Codes give them statutory form: the living wage and equal pay goals of Articles 43 and 39(d) through universal minimum wages, the floor wage and equal remuneration; maternity relief and humane conditions under Article 42 through the Social Security and OSH Codes; and workers' participation under Article 43A through works committees. Courts also rely on them to construe labour statutes beneficially.

5. Related Topics

• Topic 1: Labour Law Reform in India. How the four Codes came about.
• Topic 5: Minimum Wages and the Floor Wage. Article 43 in practice.
• Topic 15: Strikes and Lock-outs. Statutory regulation of strikes.