Introduction

There are some very promising areas of law that lawyers do not take full advantage of. Labour and employment law is one of them. Combined with industrial laws it makes a very powerful combination. There are amazing opportunities both in terms of working as in-house lawyers, joining labour and employment team of law firms as well as build your own practice or consultancy as a labour and industrial law advisor and litigator.

Labour law was one of the subjects that really intrigued me when I was in law school. There so many new issues around labour and employment law, but why do they teach us a bunch of mostly irrelevant and extremely outdated things in name of labour law in law school? Sure, we need to know the basic concepts, and they taught that in law school, but highly important and relevant issues of our times were left out.

I was going through a few syllabuses of some of the top law schools last year. Things have not changed.

The result is that labour law has a pretty bad image with budding (and even most of the grown up) lawyers. It is often considered right next to CPC in being boring and maybe just above human rights law in terms of low potential for making money. At least that’s the perception that most lawyers and law students have.

I will tell you my experience. We began to offer a labour law course in 2016. It became popular quickly with HR managers, IR professionals, company secretaries and other compliance professionals. The percentage of lawyers who take the course is under 20%. All other law courses boasts of at least 50% of candidates from legal background.

However, it is a myth that labour law is boring or that you can’t make money as a labour lawyer. There is a huge amount of labour law work that is up for grabs, for several reason, and the biggest reason an upcoming lawyer should consider becoming an expert of labour laws is that there is very low competition for it. Let the rest of the world think that labour law is not sexy and miss out the opportunities, if you are looking for a break and willing to go for a relatively uncommon area of law, keep reading.

And of course, I need not tell HR managers or IR professionals about how valuable labour and employment law, coupled with industrial law, can be for their career. The subject is taught in MBA courses, but very poorly.

If you want thorough practical knowledge of labour laws as well as industrial laws, we have a course for you. However, before that, it is very important to understand a few important dynamics about labour law to fully recognize where the career opportunities are arising.

Labour law is changing

One of the biggest complaint of India Inc has been that labour laws are complex in India. On the other hand, a large part of the Indians employed in jobs do not have protections of labour law as it is old and focuses on the manufacturing sector more and leaves out the service sector, which employ a large number of people. That is slowly but decisively changing.

The current government has an agenda of simplifying the labour laws. While no sweeping reforms has been made, some of the recent amendments have changed the nature of the game.

Take the Payment of Wages Act, for instance. The ceiling of salary, with respect to which employees it apply to, has been raised recently to INR 24,000, bringing a large number of employees under its umbrella and companies for whom it has suddenly become very relevant.

Similarly, a very interesting situation has presented itself after the recent amendments of the Maternity Benefits Act as women how have to be given 6 months of paid holiday when they get pregnant while they are employed. Given that churn of employees leaving is high in the private sector, and employees often leave within 1 or 2 years of joining a job, it has very cumbersome for employers who don’t expect employees to stay beyond a year or two, to hire married women. Legal claims of maternity benefits being denied as well as companies looking to defend themselves against such claims is suddenly on the rise.

For a long time, labour law was not a very viable career unless you wanted to work for factories and labourers. That is not the case any more. With every amendment and reforms, now you can expect more and more labour law/employment disputes involving white collar employees, where stakes are higher and volume is unprecedented.

And what is unfortunate, is that there are very few lawyers in the market to tap into these opportunities with any credible skills or knowledge of labour law.

Money Recovery Claims by employees are on the rise, and lawyers and other consultants can help

There is over 64,000 crore rupees unclaimed provident fund dues lying with the government. The people to whom that money is owed do not know how to do the necessary paperwork.

Ask any decent civil lawyer, they would be often approached by people who could not get their PF money. It could be because an employer fraudulently did not deposit with the government though they were required to, or because they have lost some important paper.

It is a similar thing with gratuity, accident benefits, compensation under different statutes. We have an article on gratuity related laws in India on iPleaders blog, which is read by over 1000 people a day. Many of them leave queries about which lawyers can help them. See the comments if you don’t believe me. It is extremely difficult to find lawyers who are willing to or have the experience and skills to recover these amounts. It is not only lawyers, but other advisors and professionals can also provide services around these.

A similar case can be made about unpaid salary. Lawyers are swamped by requests from employees who have not been paid by employers or fired without due compensation to find them proper legal representation.

Do a simple math. If someone has INR 3 lakhs of unpaid salary, or PF dues, will they be willing to pay you INR 30,000 to recover it on their behalf? Do a little research right now for yourself and see if you had such a case, how easy or difficult will it be to find a credible lawyer who could do it at that price for you?

If you want to establish your own law practice, instead of chasing wild geese, money recovery for these people can be a golden practice.

In the new economy, employers desperately need help with labour and employment matters

Why are HR managers and in-house counsels with good labour law skills highly sought after?

For every new age company that relies on knowledge economy and highly skilled employees, there are dozens of cases of employees not respecting non-compete or non-solicit obligations, or engaging in data theft, or simply running away with company property (such as laptop, mobile phones, client lists, sim cards, equipment provided to them) when they quit.

There are many more complex situations.

• Should a company have a dating policy?
• What about a conflict of interest policy?
• Do they need to change their agreement if they send an employee on secondment?

It is a major challenge for startups and SMEs, and for big companies. The big companies mostly rely on in-house lawyers to handle such things. SMEs have really few options. Lawyers who can help them to deal with such situations, write the correct policies, help them to fight false allegations from employees are really in demand. It’s easy to land retainership contracts with these companies for handling such situations.

This also presents a great opportunity to HR managers and management professionals as these services can very well be provided by them as well.

In-house counsels and personnel managers need to be good with labour and employment laws

If you want to be an In-House Counsel, at the entry level, there is no way to get around labour law. Unless you are a hotshot M&A lawyer hired at a senior level to run acquisitions for the group, expect about half of your work to involve employment and labour law work. There is a reason HR managers and IR professionals are taking up labour law courses in large numbers. You better stay ahead of the game if you want to work as a young lawyer in an In-House legal team.

Every major manufacturing company needs labour law experts

Want to work in the compliance department of a manufacturing company? You better be good with your labour laws. Good news is that manufacturing is seeing a comeback in India, with major investments being made over the last decade, and especially Make in India campaign. It is at focus of government policy, and while it is going through some tough times at the moment, it is bound to go up in the long run. If you want to work as a corporate lawyer or compliance specialist or even HR manager in a large manufacturing company, you better sharpen your labour law skills. And you will definitely need a lot more than the usual labour law text book.

What is the way forward?

Labour law regime in India is a maze. There is a multiplicity of laws applicable to any given situation. Further, disparate central and state laws across India pose various challenges for organizations in treating people uniformly, framing policies, having a standard remuneration structure and definitely, the situation makes compliance challenging.

Demystification of these labour laws is critical - knowing which law applies where will solve one part of the problem. Next, a deeper conceptual understanding of the frequently faced provisions in real life is important so you can deal with practical problems with ease.

Consequences of violation are serious, leading to fines and even imprisonment for directors. Many compliance issues in India are currently informally settled through consultants (illegally). This method is too risky, unsustainable and illegal.

India is also swiftly climbing the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, and labour law reforms are one of the components of this. That does not mean that you can comply with the law in one-click of a mouse. The process will take time, and you need to acquire skills yourself to be able to understand and implement these reforms appropriately.

Would you like to acquire skills that enable yourself and organizations to achieve the following objectives? Then read further.

• Create and execute appropriate documentation with your team to achieve the organization’s commercial intent
• Implement appropriate and customized policies as per the need of your organization
• Enforce appropriate consequences for disciplinary violations (legally)
• Minimize employment-litigation risk
• Create implementation and compliance management frameworks for any organization, including large organizations with different kinds of operations, workplaces and pan-India presence
• Acquire unique and specialized expertise about industries such as construction, mining and railways

Major Labour Legislations Covered

• Apprentices Act, 1961
• Building And Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996
• Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
• Contract Labour Act, 1970
• Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
• Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948
• Factories Act, 1948
• Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1976
• Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
• Standing Orders Act, 1976
• Maternity Benefits Act, 1961
• Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Union and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices Act, 1971
• Minimum Wages Act, 1948
• Sales Promotion (Employees Conditions of Services) Act, 1976
• Trade Unions Act, 1965
• Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
• Payment of Gratuity, 1972
• Payment of Wages Act, 1936
• Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 2013
• Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923

* Service law concepts for Central / State Public Services and PSUs are not covered.

Who should take this course

• Decision makers, Industrial and factory managers, project managers, labour officers in manufacturing, construction, mining, services, shipping, transportation, facility management and other manpower heavy sectors
• HR professionals in manufacturing and services sector
• Compliance specialists, company secretaries and chartered accountants who wish to help their clients to comply with labour laws
• Law students and lawyers who want to excel in labour and employment law related matters
• Labour law practitioners - both consultants and litigators
• Law students looking to work in law firms in labour and employment law teams
• Entrepreneurs and directors who want to master legal aspects of labour and industrial laws

What is the career potential after doing this course

• If you are among industrial and factory managers, HR professionals, company secretaries, labour law practitioners, law students and lawyers who are working or want to work on labour and employment law related matters, you may find the following skills very valuable:
• Creating and executing appropriate documentation with your team to achieve the organization’s commercial intent
• Implementing appropriate and customized policies as per the need of your organization
• Enforcing appropriate consequences for disciplinary violations (legally)
• Minimizing employment-litigation risk
• Creating implementation and compliance management frameworks for any organization, including large organizations with different kinds of operations, workplaces and pan-India presence
• Acquiring unique and specialized expertise about industries such as construction, mining and railways.
• Understanding the fundamentals of labour laws in India and getting an idea of the compliance required under these
• Managing risks and developing systems in relation to employees and workers
• Contractual arrangements with employments and workers - requirements in relation to social security and other legislation as well as in relation to remuneration and incentives
• Dealing with employment and incentivisation of top executives
• Creating various employment related policies
• Specific legislations which are applicable for the industrial and manufacturing sector, including the establishment and working of trade unions
• Dealing with labour disputes
• Specific legislation applicable to contract labour
• Specific legislation applicable to different occupations such as cinema workers, journalists, mining industry workers etc
• Preventing sexual harassment at workplace
• The course is filled with a variety of takeaways such as compliance checklists, sample policies, various agreements and ESOP plan

Potential employers

• Large corporations
• SME
• HR consultancies
• HR tech startups
• Big 4 consultancy companies

What is unique about this course

• The course is not limited to a provision-by-provision study of some statutes and associated case laws alone
• The course trains you on different kinds of actual work that is required to be performed by lawyers and other professionals. After finishing the course, you will know as much practical knowledge as a lawyer working at a big law firm in these teams will know after a year or two of experience.
• It is not a mere theoretical study, but hands on practical lessons where you will have to draft a lot of documents.
• The course is tough and intensive, you will not be awarded the certificate unless you complete all the exercises. You have to spend 8-10 hours per week on this course.
• You will get personal attention and coaching from the trainer, and get individual feedback on the quality of work you produce
• You will be writing an article every month and with our guidance publish the same either on iPleaders blog or various other industry publications
• We will provide you a free course on professional networking, CV writing and interview skills so that you can easily find jobs.
• Those who perform well in class will be recommended to top law firms for internships and jobs. If you do not need such help, let us know in what other way we can help you.

Money back guarantee

If you take this course, follow it diligently for a month, do all the exercises but still do not find value in it, or not able to understand or follow it or not find it good for any reason, we will refund the entire course fee to you. It is a 100% money back guarantee with only one condition, you must pursue it properly for a month. If you don’t find it valuable after that, get your entire money back.

Training Methodology

Online 24/7 access

Access to basic study material through online learning management system, Android and iOS app

Hard Copy Study Material

Hard copy study material modules to be couriered to your address

Practical Exercises

2 practical exercises every week, followed by written feedback

Live Online Classes

Based on the exercises, there will be a live video based online class. You can ask questions, share your screen, get personal feedback in this class.

Convenient Class timings

Classes are held after regular work hours. Typically classes are kept on Sunday afternoon or 8-9 pm on other days.

Live Doubt Clearing

You can ask questions, get your doubt cleared live as well as through online forums

What will you learn

• Get exposure to strategic and drafting work in connection with labour, employment and media law
• Learn how to create employment policies and draft employment agreements for different level of employees (employment agreement of a CEO is very different from the employment agreement with a blue collar worker)
• Understand common employment law disputes and how to avoid them or tackle them
• How to act on behalf of employees who are victims of violation of their rights as well as on behalf of companies who suffer due to unscrupulous employees
• Learn about important central and state laws that govern workspaces as well as factories and workshops
• Learn how to create a compliance strategy and compliance dashboard with respect to labour, employment and industrial laws
• Learn how to conduct a labour law audit and how to handle raids by labour inspectors
• Understand the commercial aspects of labour and industrial laws and commercial objectives of organizations that inform implementation of labour laws
• Understand the difference between labour and employment law approach in services sector with white collar workers and in the manufacturing sector dominated by blue collar workers
• Learn how to comply to critical gender sensitive laws such as sexual harassment law, maternity benefit law etc.
• Understand laws and policies related to labour unions and how to interact with them
• Draft various documents, petitions, applications until you are conversant with each
• Step-by-step walkthrough of different labour and industrial law processes
• Understand government's labour and industrial law policies and priorities

Specific Learning Objectives

• What is the framework of key labour laws, what are the powers of Centre and States under the Constitution to make labour-related laws, an introduction to various Central Labour Laws, State-Level Laws and Notifications
• Learn how to maintain records, obtain registrations, display notices, what are the filings and returns, remittances and periodicity of compliance and whom to engage for compliance
• What are the provisions for accounting and reserves
• What are the exemptions available to SMEs under new labour laws?
• Learn what are the simplified registers under Ease of Compliance to Maintain Registers under various Labour Laws Rules, 2017 and how to maintain them
• Learn how to identify risks and draft organizational policies to prevent them and what are the training systems which can be used for risk mitigation
• Learn how to use surveys, feedback, random inspections, audits, ombudsman person and other implementation and monitoring tools
• Learn how to create machinery for investigation, escalation, communication, disciplinary actions to mitigate risks from employees
• Learn how to perform Internal Labour Audits
• What are the challenges for organizations with pan India presence with respect to labour laws?
• When and who is responsible for violations under labour laws and what are the risks for directors?
• Learn types of employment relationships and how to draft an employment agreement, consultancy agreements, fixed term arrangements, work-from-home arrangements, contract-labour arrangements, internships and trainee arrangements
• How to draft letter of appointment, employment contract, standing order, consultancy Agreement and secondment Agreement
• Know all about legal validity of engaging child labour in different kinds of occupations
• How to obtain registration under Profession Tax Act
• Learn how to calculate bonus and compensation for overtime work
• What are the tax issues in secondment arrangements with foreign companies?
• What are the FDI regulations for ESOPs to foreign employees?
• All you need to know about The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and how to draft and get Standing Orders approved
• In which conditions are non-compete clauses are enforceable?
• Learn about enforceability of employment bonds
• Learn how to draft employment agreements for top executives
• What are the regulations for remuneration of company directors and key managerial personnel?
• All you need to know about ESOP Plans for top executives, Sweat Equity Arrangements, Stock appreciation rights (SARs), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and ESOPs to Foreign Employees, ESOPs of parent and subsidiary companies and taxability of ESOPs
• How to draft an employment agreement for a CXO-level employee
• How to create and administer an ESOP plan and how to draft a letter of grant
• Learn all about remuneration and wages, how to calculate minimum wages, what are the obligations under Payment of Wages Act
• Learn what will be the combined effect of Payment of Wages Act, Shops and Establishment Act and Factories Act.
• What are the prohibitions against discrimination in remuneration and other employment criteria and what are the valid grounds for payment of differential remuneration?
• Learn how to deal with pending salaries, workmen’s dues and other amounts during insolvency.
• Learn how to impose fines for misconduct, how to conduct disciplinary inquiries, how to dismiss and terminate employees legally and what are the rules regarding full and final settlement (F&F).
• Learn how to undertake layoffs and how to shutdown a large factory or shop.
• What are the provisions dealing with transfer of employees in case of M&As and business transfers.
• Learn which labour laws are applicable to specific industry sectors
• Learn how to draft employment policies like Code of Conduct, Whistleblower Policy, Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy, Business and Travel Policy, Conflict of Interest Policy, Dating Policy, Dress Code, Equal opportunity policy, Health and Safety Policy, Leave and Attendance Policy etc.
• Learn what are the environmental compliance and clearances to set up a factory, what are compliance provisions for everyday operations and what are the statutory responsibility and liabilities of a factory occupier and manager?
• What are the provisions related to Workmen’s Compensation and Accident Insurance?
• What are the environmental compliance for disposal of industrial waste?
• Know provisions related to festival and national holidays and overtime for specific holidays
• Learn how to form a trade union, what are the consequences of non-membership of trade union and how to handle trade unions and industrial disputes.
• All you need to know about legal and illegal strikes, strike in ‘public utility service’,
• Learn about collective bargaining and how to draft settlement agreements.
• Learn how to handle labour violence.
• Learn how to obtain professional tax registration for employees.
• Learn about applicability of Shops and Establishments Act to Hotels, Hospitals, Theatres, Restaurants, professionals’ offices and independent consultants.
• What are the provisions related to working hours, spread-over, rest interval, opening and closing hours, closed days, national and religious holidays and overtime work?
• Learn about compliances for stores open 24 x 7.
• All you need to know about annual leave, maternity leave, sickness and casual leave, termination of service and your obligations towards interns, trainees and apprentices.
• What are the advantages of setting up your factory or office in an SEZ?
• Learn major Shops and Establishment Act compliances.
• Learn all you need to know about gratuity, provident fund, pension, Employees State Insurance and group insurance taken by employers.
• Learn about registration, record-keeping, periodic compliance and filings under Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923, Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 and Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
• Learn about provisions related to social security for unorganized sector workers.
• How to hire contract labour legally, what kind of work you can give contract labourers and responsibility of contractors
• Due diligence requirements for organizations which engage contractors; consequences of violation of contractor’s responsibility
• Social security and welfare laws for contract labourers
• Learn about applicability of general labour laws to specialized sectors and special labour laws applicable to journalists, cinema workers, salesmen, railways, mining Industry, construction Industry and boilers.
• What are the organizational obligations under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013?
• What are the implementation challenges for the companies under Sexual Harassment Act and how should an organization with less than 10 people implement the law?
• Learn about the term sexual harassment, which organizations need to comply with provisions of Sexual Harassment Act, categories of team members are protected under this law and what are the punishments for offences under this Act.
• Learn how to create an ICC, what are the functions of ICC, how inquiries are conducted and how records are maintained by ICC, what interim measures can be taken by ICC.
• What are the principles for conducting hearings and decision-making, how to maintain confidentiality, how to deal with false complaints, how to appoint an external member or a consultant, how to conduct sensitization and what are the reporting obligations of employers and ICCs?

Recruitment and Internship Support

We are the only organisation in India with such comprehensive and exercise-based training methodology for courses. Many employers, law firms and companies are happy to recruit our high performing students. If you do well in your exercises and classes, we can help you to get jobs, internships and assessment internships in good law firms, with renowned lawyers as well as in various companies.

List of Weekly Exercises

• Determine when you can/ cannot engage child labour in a factory
• Exercise on application of remuneration provisions under Equal Remuneration Act
• Provisions and rules related to working hours and overtime under Shops and Establishments Act
• Eligibility of bonus, calculation of bonus, liability of a company regarding payment of bonus
• Draft an executive employment agreement
• Exercise on severance compensation
• Directors remuneration and related party transactions
• Draft ESOP plan
• Draft a letter of grant
• Draft a media policy
• Draft a Whistleblower’s Policy
• Draft an Employee Code of Conduct
• Draft other Organizational Policies such as a confidentiality policy
• Initiate disciplinary proceedings against a dishonest employee
• Identify grounds and procedure for termination of employment
• Draft a notice for termination of employment
• Draft a response to a notice of termination of employment
• Maintain unified registers for a small enterprise
• Compliance with Employees State Insurance Act
• Determine Minimum Wage for team members and contract labour
• Comply with Minimum Wages Act in your state
• Comply with Payment of Wages Act
• Levy a fine for employee misdemeanour and non-performance
• Create a compliance checklist for periodic filings under 5 key labour legislations
• Create a compliance checklist for 4 branches of your organization in the country
• Get a rapidly expanding startup PF-ready - identify financial and other impact for promoters
• Identify compliance requirements under Payment of Gratuity Act
• Identify Strategic Benefits of Employing Migrant Workmen
• Identify possible steps to address labour unrest at your factory
• Determine whether a strike in your factory is legal or not
• Find out who’s responsible for an accident in a factory
• Trade unions: Create a constitutional document
• Determine statutory terms and conditions of employment of door-to-door salesmen for a cosmetics company
• Determine statutory terms and conditions of employment of 50 journalists who have been hired for a new newspaper
• Draft an Employment Agreement
• Draft an Appointment Letter as per Shops and Establishments Act
• Draft a Consultancy Agreement
• Prepare a checklist to check compliance of a contractor with Contract Labour Act
• Engage an employee on Fixed-Term Employment Basis in Apparel Sector
• Engage an employee on Fixed-Term Employment Basis in Other Sectors
• Prepare a compliance process document for your organization to comply with Maternity Benefit Act (as amended in 2016)
• Conduct a Maternity Benefit Act Compliance Audit for another organization
• Draft a settlement between workers’ trade union and employer
• Prepare Standing Orders for workmen in a factory
• Prepare an Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy
• Create an Internal Complaints Committee and prepare a notice for employees
• Implement an anti-sexual harassment sensitization plan for employees in your organization
• Identify responsibilities of directors, occupiers and managers for key labour law violations
• Comply with obligations under Employee State Insurance Act
• Identify how to deal with possible violations of key labour legislations