Advisory & audits
Industrial Relations
When an employee complaint or a union demand lands on your desk, you need calm, informed advice. We help you respond correctly, keep the conversation constructive and stay within the Industrial Relations Code.
Scope of work
What we do
- Individual complaintsWe help you respond to complaints from individual employees, at the labour office or elsewhere, with the facts and records in order.
- Union mattersAdvice on union demands, negotiations and recognising a negotiating union or council under the Code.
- Standing ordersFor industrial establishments with 300 or more workers, we adopt the model standing orders or draft your own and see them through certification.
- Grievance Redressal CommitteeWhere the Code requires a Grievance Redressal Committee, we set it up and guide how it runs.
- Notice of changeAdvice on the notice required before changing wages, allowances, hours, shifts or other listed service conditions.
- Lay-off, retrenchment and closureWe work out the notice, compensation and any government permission needed before you act.
- DisputesReplies and documents prepared for conciliation and other dispute proceedings.
- Effect on statutory duesHow a settlement, closure or merger affects PF, ESI, gratuity and bonus, worked out in advance.
Is this for you?
Who needs this
- Factories and establishments with a unionised workforce
- Employers facing an employee complaint at the labour office
- Companies planning a restructuring, lay-off or closure
- Industrial establishments with 300 or more workers
Under the Labour Codes
Read the law
The chapters behind this service, in the official text with plain-English notes beside it.
Questions
Common questions about IR & Disputes
Do we need standing orders?
Under the Industrial Relations Code, standing orders apply to industrial establishments with 300 or more workers. You can adopt the government's model standing orders and inform the certifying officer, or prepare your own and have them certified. We help with either route.
An employee has complained to the labour office. What now?
Do not ignore the notice. Gather the appointment letter, attendance, wage and settlement records, and reply within the time given. We review the facts with you, draft the reply and support you through the hearing.
Can we change shift timings or allowances straight away?
Not for the conditions listed in the Code's Third Schedule, which include wages, allowances, hours of work and shift working. Affected workers must get notice first, and the change can take effect only 21 days after it. The exceptions are narrow, such as a change made under a settlement or award, or an emergency shift change made in consultation with the Grievance Redressal Committee.
What does a retrenchment involve?
Notice to the worker, retrenchment compensation based on length of service and a contribution to the Worker Re-skilling Fund. Larger factories, mines and plantations also need government permission first. We work out the full cost and process before you decide.
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