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Chapter II · Industrial Relations Code

Bi-Partite Forums

This chapter sets up two in-house forums where the employer and workers sit together: the Works Committee, for good relations on matters of common concern, and the Grievance Redressal Committee, for an individual worker's complaints. It also lays down the timelines a worker follows to take an unresolved grievance, or a dismissal or termination, to conciliation and then to the Tribunal.

2 sections ~4 min read Official text, PDF p. 8
HR managersFactory ownersIndustrial relations officersTrade union representatives

Key points

  1. 1Every industrial establishment with 20 or more workers must have at least one Grievance Redressal Committee for individual grievances; no government order is needed. §4
  2. 2A Works Committee is needed only where the appropriate Government orders one, and only in establishments that employ, or employed on any day in the previous twelve months, 100 or more workers. §3
  3. 3The Grievance Redressal Committee has equal employer and worker members, no more than ten in all, a chairperson who alternates between the two sides every year, and women members at least in proportion to the women in the workforce. §4
  4. 4A worker has one year from the cause of action to file a grievance; the Committee may finish within 30 days, and the worker then has 60 days to seek conciliation through their Trade Union. §4
  5. 5A dispute over one worker's discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or termination counts as an industrial dispute even if no union or other worker joins it. §4
  6. 6The worker can go straight to the Tribunal 45 days after applying for conciliation, but must do so within two years of the termination. §4

At a glance

20 or moreWorkers needing a Grievance Redressal CommitteeSection 410Maximum members of a Grievance Redressal CommitteeSection 4100 or more on any day in the last 12 monthsWorkers before a Works Committee can be orderedSection 31 year from the cause of actionTime to file a grievanceSection 430 days from receiving the application (worded "may complete")Time for the Committee to finishSection 460 days from the decision, or from the end of the 30-day periodTime to seek conciliation after the CommitteeSection 445 days after applying for conciliationWait before applying directly to the TribunalSection 42 yearsDeadline to apply to the Tribunal after terminationSection 4
Earlier law:Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
3

Works Committee

In plain words

In an establishment that employs, or employed on any day in the past twelve months, 100 or more workers, the appropriate Government can order the employer to form a Works Committee of employer and worker representatives, with at least as many worker members as employer members, to promote good relations, comment on matters of common interest and try to resolve differences on them.

(1)

In the case of any industrial establishment in which one hundred or more workers are employed or have been employed on any day in the preceding twelve months, the appropriate Government may by general or special order require the employer to constitute a Works Committee, in such manner as may be prescribed, consisting of representatives of employer and workers engaged in the establishment:

Proviso

Provided that the number of representatives of workers in such Committee shall not be less than the number of representatives of the employer.

(2)

The representatives of the workers shall be chosen, in such manner as may be prescribed, from among the workers engaged in the establishment and in consultation with their Trade Union, if any, registered in accordance with the provisions of section 9.

(3)

It shall be the duty of the Works Committee to promote measures for securing and preserving amity and good relations between the employer and workers and, to that end, to comment upon matters of their common interest or concern and endeavour to compose any material difference of opinion in respect of such matters.

Source: The Industrial Relations Code, 2020, official gazette copy, page 8
4

Grievance Redressal Committee

In plain words

Every establishment with 20 or more workers must have a Grievance Redressal Committee of equal employer and worker members (ten at most) that hears individual grievances, and this section sets the timelines for taking an unresolved grievance or a termination dispute to conciliation and the Tribunal.

(1)

Every industrial establishment employing twenty or more workers shall have one or more Grievance Redressal Committees for resolution of disputes arising out of individual grievances.

(2)

The Grievance Redressal Committee shall consist of equal number of members representing the employer and the workers to be chosen in such manner as may be prescribed.

(3)

The chairperson of the Grievance Redressal Committee shall be selected from among persons representing the employer and the workers alternatively on rotational basis every year.

(4)

The total number of members of the Grievance Redressal Committee shall not exceed ten:

Proviso

Provided that there shall be adequate representation of women workers in the Grievance Redressal Committee and such representation shall not be less than the proportion of women workers to the total workers employed in the industrial establishment.

(5)

An application in respect of any dispute referred to in sub-section (1) may be filed before the Grievance Redressal Committee by any aggrieved worker in such manner as may be prescribed within one year from the date on which the cause of action of such dispute arises.

(6)

The Grievance Redressal Committee may complete its proceedings within thirty days of receipt of the application under sub-section (5).

(7)

The decision of the Grievance Redressal Committee on any application filed under sub-section (5) shall be made on the basis of majority view of the Committee, provided more than half of the members representing the workers have agreed to such decision, otherwise it shall be deemed that no decision could be arrived at by the Committee.

(8)

The worker who is aggrieved by the decision of the Grievance Redressal Committee or whose grievance is not resolved in the said Committee within the period specified in sub-section (6), may, within a period of sixty days from the date of the decision of the Grievance Redressal Committee or from the date on which the period specified in sub-section (6) expires, as the case may be, file an application for the conciliation of such grievance to the conciliation officer through the Trade Union, of which he is a member, in such manner as may be prescribed.

(9)

Where any employer discharges, dismisses, retrenches, or otherwise terminates the services of an individual worker, any dispute or difference between that worker and his employer connected with, or arising out of, such discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or termination shall be deemed to be an industrial dispute notwithstanding that no other worker nor any Trade Union is a party to the dispute.

(10)

Notwithstanding anything contained in this section or section 53, any worker as is specified in sub-section (5) may, make an application directly to the Tribunal for adjudication of the dispute referred to therein after the expiry of forty-five days from the date he has made the application to the conciliation officer of the appropriate Government for conciliation of the dispute, and on receipt of such application the Tribunal shall have powers and jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the dispute, as the Tribunal has in respect of the application filed under sub-section (6) of section 53.

(11)

The application referred to in sub-section (10) shall be made to the Tribunal before the expiry of two years from the date of discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or otherwise termination of service as specified in sub-section (9).

Source: The Industrial Relations Code, 2020, official gazette copy, page 8

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