India Rolls Out New Labour Code; What Women Employees Must Know

India’s new labour codes are now in force, replacing decades of scattered rules with one unified framework. While the reforms affect nearly every worker, the biggest shift is the expanded protection and recognition given to women across industries.

Under the new system, women gain clearer rights, safer work environments and stronger financial security, whether they work full-time, on a contract or in fast-growing digital and service sectors. Here are the new labour codes every woman employee must know.

Female employees can work night shifts

Women workers are permitted to work at night. This pertains to all types of work across all establishments (including underground mining and heavy machinery), subject to their consent and required safety measures.

Safety measures

The new labour code includes safety and welfare measures like ma

India’s new labour codes are now in force, replacing decades of scattered rules with one unified framework. While the reforms affect nearly every worker, the biggest shift is the expanded protection and recognition given to women across industries.

Under the new system, women gain clearer rights, safer work environments and stronger financial security, whether they work full-time, on a contract or in fast-growing digital and service sectors. Here are the new labour codes every woman employee must know.

Female employees can work night shifts

Women workers are permitted to work at night. This pertains to all types of work across all establishments (including underground mining and heavy machinery), subject to their consent and required safety measures.

Safety measures

The new labour code includes safety and welfare measures like mandatory written consent, double wages for overtime, safe transportation, CCTV surveillance, and security arrangements.

Mandatory women’s representation in grievance committee

All organisations must adhere to mandatory women’s representation in grievance redressal committees. The representation of women should not be less than the proportion of women workers to the total workforce in the establishment.

Easier Access to Paid Leave

Employees working in shift-heavy or seasonal roles often struggled to qualify for paid leave. The threshold has now been lowered from 240 working days to 180, making it easier for women balancing family duties and irregular schedules to access the leave they earn.

Flexible Workweeks With Mandatory Safety

The standard eight-hour day and forty-eight-hour week stay, but states can now decide how to structure the week. Four longer days or six shorter ones are both possible.

Overtime must be voluntary and paid at double the usual rate. States can also permit higher overtime limits, giving women more choice in how they structure their work hours.

Safety rules have tightened, too. Commute-related accidents, under specific conditions, now count as workplace incidents, giving women access to compensation, insurance and ESI benefits for injuries that occur on the way to or from work.

Medical, Maternity and Insurance Benefits Expand

ESIC coverage is no longer restricted to select regions. Women in factories, shops, plantations and even hazardous one-person units can now receive medical insurance, maternity support and disability coverage. This removes a major gap for women in small workplaces that previously fell outside the ESIC framework.

Formal Protection for Women in Media and Digital Industries

Journalists, OTT workers, dubbing artists, digital creators and crew members all receive formal recognition under the new codes. Appointment letters, clear work hours and documented entitlements will now be mandatory, bringing stability to industries where women have long faced inconsistent contracts and unpredictable work conditions.

Gratuity After Just One Year for Fixed-Term Women Workers

Women hired on fixed-term contracts, a common practice in IT, manufacturing, media and logistics, no longer need five years of service to qualify for gratuity. They now qualify after one year, significantly improving long-term financial stability for women who move between projects or short-term roles.

Clear Appointment Letters

For the first time, every worker must receive a written appointment letter that outlines their pay, duties, work hours and entitlements. This protects women in fields where informal hiring was common, such as services, trades and media. It closes loopholes that previously allowed employers to change roles or wages without documentation.

Minimum Wages Apply Everywhere

Earlier, minimum wage coverage varied widely across industries. Now, it applies universally. The national floor wage set by the Centre prevents states from fixing wages below a minimum standard. This is a major boost for women in low-wage and informal sectors, where wage exploitation was common.

Timely Salaries for Every Worker

Delayed wages hit women especially hard, especially those supporting families or working in the informal sector. The new codes make timely salary payments mandatory for all workers, with penalties for non-compliance.