Govt Notifies Draft Industrial Relations Rules, 2025

Notification No. G.S.R. 930 (E); Dated: 30.12.2025

The Central Government has notified the draft Industrial Relations (Central) Rules, 2025 under section 99 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, in supersession of the Industrial Disputes (Central) Rules, 1957 and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central Rules, 1946. The draft rules lay down provisions relating to settlements, works committees, grievance redressal committees, trade unions, standing orders, strikes, lay-offs, retrenchments, closures, and dispute resolution.

Section 99 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, empowers the appropriate Government to make rules for giving effect to the provisions of the Code. Objections and Suggestions can be submitted within 30 days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

The key highlights of the draft Industrial Relations (Central) Rules, 2025 are as follows:

(a) Constitution of Works Committee – As per the draft rules, employers must constitute a Works Committee to promote measures for securing and preserving amity and good relations between the employer and workers. The Committee must be constituted with a maximum of 20 members, ensuring that the number of representatives of workers is not less than the number of representatives of the employer.

(b) Formation of Grievance Redressal Committee – The draft rules prescribe the formation of a Grievance Redressal Committee comprising an equal number of members representing the employer and workers, which shall not exceed 10. There must be an adequate representation of women workers in the Committee, and such representation must not be less than the proportion of women workers to the total workers employed in the establishment. The tenure of members of the Committee must be three years.

(c) Memorandum of settlement – The settlement arrived at in the course of conciliation proceedings or a written agreement between the employer and worker arrived at other than in the course of conciliation proceedings must be in Form I.
The settlement must be signed by the employer or his authorised agent, or where the employer is an incorporated company or other body corporate, by the agent, manager or other principal officer of the company or such body corporate.
Further, on behalf of workers, the settlement must be signed by any of the office bearers of the Trade Union, including the President, Vice President, Secretary, Joint Secretary or any other office bearer of the Trade Union authorised by the President and Secretary of the Union.

(d) Manner of Recognition of Negotiating Union or Negotiating Council – The draft rules specify the manner of recognition of Negotiating Union or Negotiating Council, which covers the following:
Matters for negotiation between the negotiating union or negotiating council and the employer for the workers employed in industrial establishments;
Criteria for recognising a single registered Trade Union of workers as the sole negotiating union of workers;
Manner of verification of membership of Trade Unions in industrial establishments;
Verification of membership of Trade Unions through a secret ballot;
Recognition of the Trade Union as the negotiating union;
Facilities to be provided by industrial establishments to a negotiating union or negotiating council;
Manner of making application for adjudication of dispute before the Tribunal

(e) Voluntary Reference of Disputes to an Arbitrator – The draft rules specify a formal agreement process for voluntary arbitration, specifying who can sign on behalf of employers and workers and mandating written consent from arbitrators. The agreement must be accompanied by the consent of the arbitrator or arbitrators, either in writing or electronically.

(f) Procedure for Strikes and Lockouts – The draft rules formalise the procedures for strikes and lockouts. The notice of strike must be given to the employer of an industrial establishment in Form XI, which must be duly signed by the Secretary and five elected representatives of the workers. The employer must give the notice of lock-out in Form-XII to the Secretary of every registered trade union by registered post or speed post or electronically. Employers issuing lockout notices must notify labour authorities and display the notice on a notice board or an electronic board at the main entrance.

(g) Special provisions relating to Lay-offs, Retrenchment and Closure – As per the draft rules, the employer must submit applications for permission for Lay-offs, retrenchment and Closure in Form-XIV, and a copy of the application must be served simultaneously to the workers electronically or in person or by registered or speed post. The application must also be displayed by the employer on the notice board or on the electronic board at the main entrance of the industrial establishment.

(h) Worker Re-skilling Fund – The draft rules require employers who retrench a worker to electronically transfer an amount equivalent to 15 days’ last drawn wages of the retrenched worker into the accounts to be maintained by the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central)/Office of the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (Central)/Office of the Regional Labour Commissioner (central)/Office of the Assistant Labour Commissioner (Central) as required. The worker must utilise the amount for his re-skilling.

(i) Protected Workers – The draft rules mandate that every registered Trade Union connected with an industrial establishment must communicate to the employer before the 30th April of every year, the names and addresses of the officers of the Union who are employed in the establishment and who, in the opinion of the Union, must be recognised as protected workers.

(j) Manner of Composition of Offence by a Gazetted Officer – Under the draft rules, the officer notified by the Central Government for compounding of offences must send a notice to the accused in Form-XV, consisting of three parts, through the designated portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

In Part I of the Form, the compounding officer must specify the name of the offender and his other particulars, details of the offence and the section under which the offence has been committed. Part II of the Form specifies the consequences if the offence is not compounded, and Part III of the Form must contain the application to be filed by the accused if he desires to compound the offence.

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