What Extra Compliance for Inter-State Workers?

The governing provision and who counts

Inter-State migrant workers are governed by the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, Chapter XI, Part II. Under the labour codes, contract labour expressly includes an inter-State migrant worker, so if you supply or engage such workers through a contractor the ordinary contract-labour regime applies to them as well. Part II then layers extra, worker-specific duties on top. It applies to every establishment in which ten or more inter-State migrant workers are employed, or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months (section 59).

The exception that usually applies: the ten-worker threshold

For many small placements the practical exception is simply headcount. If you employ fewer than ten inter-State migrant workers, the Part II special duties in sections 60 to 65 do not attach. Two cautions: the test is on any day of the preceding twelve months, so a short-lived spike above ten pulls the whole establishment into Part II for that period; and the exception is only from Part II, not from the rest of the law. Ordinary Chapter XI Part I contract-labour obligations (contractor licensing, wage responsibility, welfare facilities) and social-security duties (EPF and ESI) continue to apply regardless of the count. The exact method of counting inter-State migrant workers is set by the Code and rules and can vary by state notification, so confirm it against your state's notified rule.

The extra duties when Part II applies (section 60)

When ten or more inter-State migrant workers are engaged, every contractor or employer must: (i) ensure suitable conditions of work having regard to the fact that the worker is required to work in a State different from his own; (ii) in the case of a fatal accident or serious bodily injury, report to the specified authorities of BOTH States and to the next of kin of the worker; and (iii) extend all benefits available to a worker of that establishment, expressly including benefits under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 and the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 or any other law in force, plus the facility of medical check-up. In short, an inter-State migrant worker gets the same benefit floor as a local worker, with the added cross-State accident-reporting duty.

Annual journey allowance (section 61)

The employer must pay every inter-State migrant worker, in a year, a lump-sum amount of fare for the to-and-fro journey to his native place from the place of employment. The minimum service for entitlement, the periodicity, the class of travel and other matters are as prescribed by the appropriate Government. Treat this as a recurring statutory cost line, one round-trip fare per inter-State migrant worker per year, and set the actual amount and class of travel by your state's notified rule rather than by any fixed number, because the Code leaves the figure to be prescribed. Illustrative example: if a site runs twelve inter-State migrant workers for a year, budget twelve annual round-trip fares to their native places as a distinct cost head in the bill rate, with each fare computed on the notified entitlement and class of travel.

Government-side schemes and the past-liability rule (sections 62 to 65)

Several provisions run through Government schemes rather than direct employer action: the appropriate Government makes schemes giving the worker an option to draw public distribution system benefits in either his native State or the destination State, and for portability of building-and-other-construction-worker cess-fund benefits in the destination State (section 62); it may provide a toll-free helpline (section 63) and provide for study of inter-State migrant workers (section 64). Employers should note section 65: no suit or proceeding lies for recovery of a debt relating to an inter-State migrant worker after completion of his employment where it remains an unsettled obligation to the contractor or the principal employer, and such debt is deemed extinguished on completion of the period of employment. Any advances or dues to recover must therefore be settled before the deployment ends.

At the licence and costing stage

The contractor-licence application must include the information relating to the employment of inter-State migrant workers (section 48), so plan to disclose these workers when you apply. The principal-employer backstop still applies: if the contractor fails to pay wages, the principal employer is liable to pay in full and recover the amount from the contractor, including from the licence security deposit (OSH Code Chapter XI, section 55). Action step: confirm your inter-State migrant worker count against the section 59 threshold; if you are at or above ten now or were on any day in the last twelve months, build the Part II duties into the deployment (cross-State accident reporting, equal benefits with EPF and ESI enrolment, and the annual journey allowance costed per your state's notified rule) and disclose the workers in the contractor-licence application. Verify the journey-allowance formula, the counting method and any state-notified specifics against your state's rules before filing.

Last verified and disclaimer

Last verified: 20 September 2026. This page is general information about Indian labour-law compliance for staffing and manpower firms and is not legal advice. Thresholds, forms, rates and the journey-allowance formula are set and revised by the Central and State Governments and vary by state; verify against the current notified rules for your state before acting. Reviewed by: pending named legal review.

Key points

• Trigger: OSH Code 2020 Chapter XI Part II applies once you employ ten or more inter-State migrant workers on any day in the preceding twelve months (section 59); a single day above ten in the last year counts.
• Section 60 duties: report any fatal accident or serious injury to the specified authorities of BOTH States and the next of kin; extend all establishment benefits including EPF and ESI; ensure suitable working conditions and a medical check-up.
• Section 61: pay each inter-State migrant worker a once-a-year lump-sum to-and-fro journey fare to the native place; the amount, entitlement service, periodicity and class of travel follow the appropriate Government's notified rule.
• Sections 62 to 63: Government schemes give the worker a choice of public distribution system benefits in the native or destination State, portability of construction-cess benefits, and a possible toll-free helpline.
• Section 65: an inter-State migrant worker's unsettled debt to the contractor or principal employer is extinguished on completion of employment, so settle any advances before the deployment ends.
• Section 48: disclose inter-State migrant workers in the contractor-licence application; and the principal employer stays liable for wages if the contractor defaults, recoverable including from the licence security deposit (section 55).
• Below ten inter-State migrant workers, Part II does not apply, but ordinary contract-labour licensing and PF and ESI duties still do.

Related questions

Check for your state

• The journey-allowance amount, the minimum service for entitlement, the periodicity and the class of travel (section 61) are left to be prescribed by the appropriate Government; the exact figure and formula must be checked against the state's notified rule and are not fixed in the grounding pack.
• The precise statutory definition of inter-State migrant worker and the method of counting the ten-worker section 59 threshold are set by the Code and rules and may vary by state notification; verify against the state's notified rule.
• The grounding pack lists the CLRA 1970 and the BOCW Act 1996 as subsumed into the OSH Code but does not address the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979; its status is therefore not asserted here and should be confirmed.
• Contractor-licence forms and any inter-State-migrant-worker-specific disclosure format under section 48 are set by state-notified rules; confirm exact form numbers and formats before filing.
• Current EPF and ESI contribution rates and the ESI wage ceiling should be reconfirmed at time of publishing, as they are set and revised by notification.