Kerala's draft report on Labour Code rules proposes a five-member family unit for fixing minimum wages
4 November 2026
Labour Minister Bindu Krishna has handed Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan a draft report on the State rules Kerala must frame under the Centre's four Labour Codes. A special committee set up at an October 22 meeting chaired by the Chief Minister prepared it after ten days of talks with trade unions. The Labour Commissioner was its convener; an Additional Secretary of the Law Department and seven trade union representatives were members. The report suggests counting a worker's family as five units, adding both parents, instead of three when the minimum wage is worked out. It also asks for free medical check-ups for workers in hazardous processes, strict safety conditions for women working night shifts, and wider bonus coverage. Changes giving the State more say over lay-offs and lockouts are recommended, drawing on the Justice Gopala Gowda committee's study of the codes. The four codes replaced 29 older labour laws, and Kerala has yet to notify its own rules under them.
In plain words
Labour Codes Code on Wages, 2019; Industrial Relations Code, 2020; Code on Social Security, 2020; Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 — Four central laws that merged 29 older labour laws.
Lay-off — An employer's temporary inability to give work to workers on the rolls.
Lockout — An employer closing the workplace or refusing to employ workers during a dispute.