During the ongoing lockdown due to the Coronoavirus pandemic, states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh decided to make significant changes in the application of labour laws. India had 45 labour laws at the level of the Centre and almost 200 labour laws at the level of the states.

This raises a fair question that why the state governments are junking labour laws in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis?

Last week, Uttar Pradesh government cleared an ordinance exempting businesses from the purview of most labour law provisions for the next three years. Other states, too, are following this so called ‘Reforms’. However, labour laws related to deployment of women and children, bonded labour and timely payment of salaries will not be relaxed under the ordinance.

These changes, as explained or rather justified, are the major reforms made to incentivise and revive economic activity in the respective states. The applications of labour laws already have difficulties in reality for the aggrieved employees, to pursue the legal route, for their employement related grievances. And, seeing the current scenarios, the removal of all labour laws will not only strip the labour of its basic rights but also drive down wages. Laws connected to industrial disputes, including over layoffs and compensation, the working conditions of workers, health and safety, maintenance of facilities like drinking water, rest rooms, canteens and inter-state worker regulation are all defunct for the next three years. The list is quite long.

 At the start of lockdown, government asked employers not to cut the salaries of the employees during the lockdown period. But now from the perspective of the employees, the government has completely turned its stand from asking firms not to fire workers and pay full salaries, to stripping workers of their bargaining power now.

State governments of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have introduced changes to their labour laws by way of amendments, few of which would require approval from the central government. The state government justified this move by citing that businesses and economic activities have slowed down due to which labour welfare has also been affected. This is because businesses and economic activities came to a halt almost due to the national lockdown. To bring economic activity back on track, new investment opportunities would need to be created along with fastening the businesses processes and productivity.

Madhya Pradesh has exempted employers from various obligations under labour laws like an extension of daily working hours to 12, Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act and Industrial Disputes Act, Contract Labour Act, allowing employers to hire and fire workers at their convenience. States including Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have extended working hours in the manufacturing units to 12 hours from existing 8 hours. Amendment of these labour laws by the states seems to be in contravention to the globally accepted norms.

My personal opinion is that, even in current scenarios, the corporate/ employer seems to have an upper hand while dealing with the employment matters pertaining to the termination of services of an employee. The employee did not pursue the legal path just to avoid hassles of appointing a corporate lawyer. Further, to avoid unnecessary harassment at the hands of employers, who try to use various unethical and unprofessional tactics. To keep the future employment opportunities open, in most of the cases, employees or aggrieved persons give up the idea of approaching the court of law.