Labour codes: the Centre and the states both owe workers a deadline

The four labour codes have been law since 21 November 2025. The Centre took until 8 May 2026 to notify its own rules. And on 24 September, the Labour Secretary said ten states had final rules and the rest only drafts, adding that the Centre was “hoping” all states would be done by 31 October.

Workers are owed a firmer date than that, from the Centre and from every state.

Why the states’ rules matter

Labour is on the concurrent list, and state governments are the appropriate government in most cases, as Labour Secretary Chandra Bhushan Kumar himself noted. Much of what the codes promise, from gratuity for fixed-term staff to the conditions for women on night shifts, reaches a worker through state rules. Where those rules are only drafts, workers and employers are left to guess.

The rules that do exist already differ in ways that matter. Several states make fixed-term employees eligible for gratuity after one year of service. Gujarat’s rules require five years, according to the law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. For a worker on a two-year contract, that is the difference between getting gratuity and not.

The case for taking time

States have reasons to go carefully. The codes reshape rules on unions, strikes and retrenchment, and labour is a shared subject. In July, The Tribune reported that Kerala had asked for more time to study certain aspects of the codes. A state that wants to consult unions and employers properly is doing its job, and a rushed rule can be worse than a delayed one.

There are also open questions that the Centre has not settled. A Grant Thornton Bharat report launched at the same seminar flagged the lack of definitions for managerial, administrative and supervisory roles, and the rule on paying wages within two working days of a worker leaving.

Both points argue for clear timelines. Consultation has a beginning and an end. Nearly 11 months after the codes took effect, and five months after the central rules, a state that has published only a draft should be able to say when it will finish.

What is missing is information

The larger failure is that nobody can easily check where things stand. The government says ten states have final rules but has not said which ten. Law firms and HR vendors keep their own trackers, and they contradict each other. If professional advisers cannot agree on whether a state’s rules are final, a construction worker or a gig rider has no chance.

The Centre is building a “Labour Stack” so that worker databases and welfare schemes can “talk to each other”, in Kumar’s words. A simple public list of state rules should come first.

The reporting behind this view

• 21 Nov 2025date the four labour codes came into force, replacing 29 central laws
• 10states with final rules as of 24 Sep 2026, unnamed by the government
• 1 year vs 5 yearsservice needed for fixed-term gratuity in several states' rules versus Gujarat's

What should happen by 31 October

The Labour Ministry should publish, on its website, a state-wise table showing which rules each state has notified under each code, with the date and a link to the gazette. It should update the table every week.

Every state that misses 31 October should publish a dated timetable for its final rules, and explain any provision where it plans to depart from the central rules. And the Centre should clear up the open definitions it controls, so that states are not left to guess.

All of this can be done without new law. The workers the codes were written for are owed an answer, and a date by which they will get it.