Statutory compliance services that survive an inspection, not just an audit checklist
Compliance is not a certificate on a wall. It is registrations, registers and returns under four Labour Codes and a dozen State laws, monthly filings across EPFO, ESIC and State portals, wage notifications that change without notice, and licence renewals nobody diarised. We hold the calendar, file the returns and stand in front of the inspector with you.
Headcount, states and current setup. We aim to send a costed proposal within one working day.
The full statutory perimeter of an Indian employer
Every establishment has a licence, a register, a return and a due date attached to it. We inventory yours, close the gaps and then keep the calendar running.
- ✓EPF and ESI: registration, monthly ECR, KYC, inspections, damages defence
- ✓Contract labour under the OSH Code (formerly CLRA): contractor licences, principal-employer duties, registers
- ✓OSH Code establishment registration, factory licences and State Shops & Establishments registration
- ✓Minimum wage notification tracking by state and skill grade
- ✓Professional Tax, Labour Welfare Fund and statutory bonus filings
- ✓POSH Internal Committee, maternity benefit and gratuity compliance
Non-compliance is discovered at the worst possible moment
Usually during a customer audit, a due-diligence exercise, or an inspection triggered by one aggrieved worker. By then the correction is retrospective and expensive.
HR owns PF, finance owns TDS, the plant owns factory licences, and the contractor's registers are assumed to be fine because nobody has read them.
Add contractor dues you become liable for as principal employer, and customer audit failures that put your supply approval at risk.
One inventory of establishments, licences and due dates, monthly filing evidence in one folder, and a named person who answers when a notice arrives.
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Registration, filing, defence
Compliance is a monthly retainer priced on establishment count, headcount and states in scope, with the rates set out in the rate card. One-time gap closure is quoted separately. The slider below uses an illustrative per-employee assumption, not our rate.
First we find out what you actually owe, which is rarely what the file says.
Where the old labour Acts live now
Twenty-nine central labour laws were consolidated into four Labour Codes. The obligations did not disappear — they moved, and many registers, returns and thresholds changed on the way. Final Central rules under all four Codes were notified on 8 May 2026; States are notifying their own rules at different speeds, and where a State has not, earlier rules continue to the extent they are consistent with the Codes.
| Labour Code | Acts it replaced (examples) | What it governs for an employer |
|---|---|---|
| Code on Wages, 2019 | Payment of Wages, Minimum Wages, Payment of Bonus, Equal Remuneration | Definition of wages (50% rule), minimum and floor wage, pay dates, deductions, bonus, equal pay, wage registers |
| Code on Social Security, 2020 | EPF & MP Act, ESI Act, Payment of Gratuity, Maternity Benefit, Employees' Compensation and four others | PF, ESI, gratuity (incl. fixed-term after one year), maternity benefit and creche, compensation, gig and platform workers |
| Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 | Factories Act, Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, Inter-State Migrant Workmen, BOCW and nine others | Establishment registration, appointment letters, working hours, safety, welfare facilities, contract-labour licensing, women's night work |
| Industrial Relations Code, 2020 | Industrial Disputes Act, Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, Trade Unions Act | Standing orders, grievance redressal, strikes and lock-outs, lay-off, retrenchment and closure, fixed-term employment, re-skilling fund |
Still outside the Codes and still applicable: State Shops & Establishments Acts, professional tax and Labour Welfare Fund laws, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (POSH) Act 2013, the Apprentices Act 1961 and the Child and Adolescent Labour Act 1986, among others.
Headcount thresholds that switch obligations on
Many compliance gaps are not missed filings — they are obligations the employer did not know had started to apply when headcount crossed a line. The main triggers under the Codes and allied laws:
| Headcount | What starts to apply | Law |
|---|---|---|
| 10 employees | Establishment registration (electronic, within 60 days); ESI coverage; gratuity; POSH Internal Committee | OSH Code s.3; Code on Social Security; POSH Act s.4 |
| 20 employees / workers | EPF coverage; statutory bonus; Grievance Redressal Committee | Code on Social Security; Code on Wages; IR Code s.4 |
| 50 contract workers | Contract-labour chapter: contractor licence, principal-employer duties | OSH Code s.45–57 |
| 50 employees | Creche facility | Code on Social Security s.67 |
| 100 workers | Canteen (contract labour counted); works committee | OSH Code s.24; IR Code s.3 |
| 250 workers | Welfare officer (factories, mines, plantations) | OSH Code s.24 |
| 300 workers | Certified standing orders; prior government permission for lay-off, retrenchment or closure | IR Code s.28 and s.77 |
Thresholds are counted differently for each obligation (employees vs workers vs contract labour, any day vs average), and States can lower some of them. We map yours against your actual headcount history at the inventory stage.
What the Codes simplified — and what they did not
The Ministry's own compliance handbook describes the shift as one registration, one licence and one return, with 84 registers reduced to 8. That is real relief. It also means the records that remain carry more weight, and they are increasingly checked online.
One electronic registration per establishment
Establishments already registered under an earlier central Act need only update their details; new ones register within 60 days. We check that every site, warehouse and branch is actually covered.
A single electronic return
Separate annual returns under the old Acts give way to a consolidated return. The data in it has to agree with PF, ESI and wage records, so it is prepared from the same source.
Fewer registers, kept electronically
Wage, attendance, overtime, deduction and contract-labour records move to the prescribed formats and can be maintained digitally — for at least five years under the Code on Wages.
Inspector-cum-facilitator
Inspectors are now expected to advise as well as enforce, and under the OSH Code must allow 30 days to comply before prosecution in most first-time cases. That window is only useful if someone acts on it immediately.
First offences can often be settled
Many first offences punishable only with a fine can be compounded for a fraction of the maximum penalty. Repeat offences within three years cannot — which is why the corrective plan after an inspection matters.
Principal-employer liability
If a contractor does not pay wages, PF or ESI, the principal employer can still be made to pay and recover later. Contractor verification remains the largest single exposure for most plants and warehouses.
Common compliance mistakes in 2026
Patterns that commonly turn up when establishments are inventoried — rarely deliberate, all expensive when found by someone else first.
Law and structure
- ✕Still citing CLRA and Factories Act forms in 2026 contracts and registers
- ✕Allowance-heavy salary structures that fail the 50% wages test
- ✕Fixed-term contracts with no gratuity provision after the first year
- ✕Offer letters issued but no appointment letter in the prescribed particulars
Operations
- ✕A new warehouse or branch opened without its own registration
- ✕Contractor crossing 50 workers at your site with no licence
- ✕Minimum-wage revisions applied late, creating arrears across grades
- ✕POSH Internal Committee lapsed after members left, annual report not filed
For contractor-specific checks, see the contractor compliance audit. For payroll-linked filings (PF, ESI, TDS, PT, LWF) run from the payroll register, see payroll and compliance services. For a written opinion on a specific issue, see labour law advisory.
Questions buyers ask before signing
Answers we give in the first call, written down so you can compare vendors on the same terms.
Get a quote →Which laws do you cover?+
The four Labour Codes — Code on Wages, Code on Social Security, OSH Code and Industrial Relations Code, which since 21 November 2025 have replaced the EPF, ESI, Contract Labour, Factories, Minimum Wages, Bonus, Gratuity and Maternity Benefit Acts among others — plus the laws outside the Codes: State Shops & Establishments Acts, professional tax, Labour Welfare Fund, POSH and the Apprentices Act, with State rules where you operate.
How is statutory compliance priced?+
A monthly retainer based on the number of establishments, total headcount and the states in scope. One-time work — gap closure, backdated registration, licence regularisation — is quoted separately after the inventory.
Do you verify our contractors' compliance too?+
Yes, and this is where most principal-employer liability actually sits. We verify contractor licences, wage registers, PF and ESI challans against deployed headcount before you release their invoices.
Will you attend inspections and reply to notices?+
Yes. We attend inspector visits, produce records, draft replies in PF and ESI dues-determination proceedings (formerly section 7A of the EPF Act and section 45A of the ESI Act; now assessment and determination of dues under section 125 of the Code on Social Security) and labour notices, and represent you before EPFO, ESIC and labour offices.
How do you track minimum wage revisions?+
State notifications are monitored and applied by skill grade and zone. When a revision lands we recompute the affected wage bands and tell you the cost impact before the payroll month closes.
Are the Contract Labour Act and the Factories Act still applicable?+
Both were repealed and subsumed into the OSH Code with effect from 21 November 2025. Rules framed under them continue only where a State has not yet notified its own Code rules, and only to the extent they are not inconsistent with the Code. Licences, registers and returns should now reference the OSH Code.
Do we need to register our establishment again under the OSH Code?+
Establishments with 10 or more employees must be registered under the OSH Code. If you were already registered under an earlier central law, you generally only need to update your details on the portal; new establishments must register electronically within 60 days of the Code applying to them.
What happens during an inspection under the Labour Codes?+
Inspections are increasingly scheduled through a web-based system, and the inspector-cum-facilitator can give advice as well as issue directions. Under the OSH Code, an employer is usually given 30 days to comply before prosecution, except for accidents and repeat offences.
Start with a gap report, not a contract
We inventory your establishments, licences and filings and show you exactly where the exposure sits before you commit to a retainer.