Karnataka Labour department has issued a notification dated 10 June 2024 extending the exemption from Standing Orders under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 for a period of 5 years from the date of publication of the notification in official gazette.
In an earlier notification dated 25 May 2019, a similar exemption was allowed for 5 years until 24 May 2024.
Standing orders covers specific service conditions applicable for workmen such as classification of workmen – permanent, temporary, apprentices, fixed term employees; manner of intimating periods and hours of work, holidays, pay-days, and wage rates; shift working; attendance and late coming; procedure for availing leave and holidays; termination of employment including notice period; procedure for handling misconduct, etc.
Exemption from standing orders is available for organizations covered under the following industries:
- IT / ITES
- Start-ups / Animation / Gaming / Computer graphics
- Telecom
- BPO / KPO
- Other knowledge based industries
Exemption from standing orders is subject to following conditions:
- Organisation shall constitute an Internal Committee as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
- Organisation shall constitute a Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) constituting equal number of persons representing employer and employees to address any complaint / grievances of any of the employee. The GRC shall be empowered to handle all types of complaints / grievances of employee within a reasonable timeframe.
- Organisation shall intimate information about the cases of disciplinary action like suspension, discharge, termination, demotion, dismissal, etc. of its employees to the Jurisdictional Deputy Labour Commissioner and Commissioner of Labour in Karnataka.
- Any information regarding service conditions sought by the Jurisdictional Deputy Labour Commissioner and Commissioner of Labour in Karnataka shall be promptly and fully submitted by the employer within the reasonable timeframe fixed by the authority.
The notification dated 10 June 2024 also clarifies that in case the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (one of the four proposed central labour codes) is implemented, the said Code will apply to all establishments.
Our teams will be happy to support you on compliance with the above process. You may reach out to any member of the EY PAS team or the following contacts:
Sonu Iyer
Partner, EY India
Email: Sonu.Iyer@in.ey.com
Puneet Gupta
Partner, EY India
Email: Puneet1.Gupta@in.ey.com
