Twenty-nine laws became four Codes. TriQ keeps you compliant with all of them.
On 21 November 2025, India brought the four new Labour Codes into force, consolidating twenty-nine central labour laws written across nearly a century. It is the largest reform of Indian employment law in living memory, and it changes how every company must structure salaries, keep registers, file returns and write appointment letters. TriQ automates that compliance, inside the same spine that already runs your attendance, leave and payroll.
What changed on 21 November 2025.
Twenty-nine central labour laws — many drafted before Independence — were consolidated into four Codes, each absorbing a family of older Acts.
Code on Wages, 2019
Consolidates four laws — including the Payment of Wages, Minimum Wages, Payment of Bonus and Equal Remuneration Acts. Brings a single, uniform definition of "wages" and a national floor wage.
Industrial Relations Code, 2020
Consolidates three laws — trade unions, standing orders and industrial disputes — into one framework for employment relations, with formal recognition of fixed-term employment.
Code on Social Security, 2020
Consolidates nine laws — PF, ESI, gratuity, maternity benefit and more — and extends social security thinking to gig and platform workers for the first time.
Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions Code, 2020
Consolidates thirteen laws — factories, contract labour, migrant workers and sectoral statutes — with mandatory appointment letters and modernised safety and welfare standards.
Simpler on paper. Demanding in practice.
The Codes streamline the law — hundreds of sections reduced, dozens of registers collapsed, many returns replaced by a single electronic one. But getting there is real work for every employer.
The wage definition changes your payslip
The uniform definition of wages caps excluded allowances — in effect, basic pay and core components must carry at least half of total remuneration. That reshapes salary structures, and with them PF, gratuity and every computation built on "wages".
Rules keep arriving, state by state
Labour is a concurrent subject: central rules were published in 2026 and state rules continue to be notified on their own timelines. Compliance is a moving target that must be tracked, not a form filled once.
Old papers need re-papering
Appointment letters become mandatory for all workers, fixed-term employment is formally recognised, and contracts, policies and registers written for the old Acts need to be rewritten for the Codes.
Fewer filings — but new ones
Consolidated registers and a single electronic return replace the old paperwork. Fewer obligations, but different ones — and the transition period is exactly when mistakes are made.
Compliance as a by-product of the spine.
Because attendance, leave, salary structures and payroll already live in one system, TriQ can make Code compliance an output rather than a project.
Wage-definition guardrails
Salary structures validated against the Codes' wage definition as you build them — so PF, gratuity and bonus compute on the right base from day one.
Registers & returns, generated
The consolidated registers and the electronic return produced from the data the spine already holds — attendance, wages, leave — not re-entered for compliance's sake.
A compliance calendar that watches the rules
Filing dates and obligations tracked as central and state rules are notified — so the moving target moves on our screen, not on your desk.
Appointment letters, issued and deposited
Mandatory letters generated from templates and deposited to each person's own space as permanent copies — the Code's requirement and TriQ's philosophy, in one step.
Statutory stack, Code-aligned
PF, ESI, TDS and PT computed in the payroll run on Code-consistent definitions, with bank advice files and registers to match.
One spine, so nothing is double-entered
Every compliance artefact is derived from records the system already keeps. If the payroll reconciles, the compliance follows.