Employee's Compensation Act, 1923: What Replaced It and What Changed

Employee's Compensation Act to Code on Social Security, 2020: section map

This is the core reference for the page: a row-by-row map from the repealed Employee's Compensation Act, 1923 to where each subject now sits in the Code on Social Security, 2020, with a plain verdict on each. New-code cells cite a section only where the supplied statutory text shows it.

New-code sections are grounded in the supplied statutory text, where only Sections 2 and 76 appear. Old-act references are described from the repealed Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, and older section numbers were omitted where not certain. Retained rows reflect subject-matter continuity, not a line-by-line reading of the statute.

What changed

The Employee's Compensation Act, 1923, once called the Workmen's Compensation Act, stood on its own for a century. Under the Code on Social Security, 2020, in force from 21 November 2025, it no longer exists as a separate statute. Work-injury compensation is now one part of a single social security law that also carries the provident fund, state insurance, gratuity and maternity benefit.

• Definitions are consolidated. The old Act defined its own terms; the Code now uses one shared definitions section [SS Section 2] covering appropriate Government, agent and aggregator, which pulls newer categories such as gig and platform arrangements into the same vocabulary.
• A notified floor now sits on top of the formula. [SS Section 76] keeps the multiplier method but adds an amount notified by the Central Government, whichever is more, plus a proviso to enhance the amounts by notification, so the old fixed formula is no longer the only figure that matters.
• Administration is common. Because the compensation chapter shares definitions and appropriate Government rules with the rest of the Code, which government administers a case can differ from the 1923 Act position, especially for contractors and multi-state employers.

What stayed the same

The heart of the scheme is intact. Liability still turns on injury by accident arising out of and in the course of employment, and the money is still calculated the same way.

• Death compensation is 50% of the employee's monthly wages multiplied by the relevant factor, or the notified amount, whichever is more [SS Section 76].
• Permanent total disablement is 60% of monthly wages multiplied by the relevant factor, or the notified amount, whichever is more [SS Section 76].
• The relevant factor is still tied to the employee's age, drawn from the Sixth Schedule, and permanent partial disablement is still valued from the Fourth Schedule percentages or by assessed loss of earning capacity [SS Section 76].
• Occupational diseases, notice and claim, deposit and distribution through the Commissioner, and the principle that compensation is paid when it falls due all carry forward in substance.

What was dropped or newly added

Very little was removed from the substance of the compensation right. The visible movements are additions and consolidations rather than deletions.

• Newly added: an express Central Government power to notify a minimum or higher compensation amount, whichever is more [SS Section 76].
• Newly added: the agent and aggregator definitions [SS Section 2], which widen the reach of the social security regime beyond the classic employer and employee pair.
• Absorbed: the Act's own short title, extent and commencement provisions fall away and are replaced by the Code's preliminary provisions.
• Not established from the supplied text: whether any minor procedural provision of the 1923 Act was dropped. The two supplied sections do not settle that; the repeal and savings schedule of the Code is the place to check.

Transition traps for employers

The compensation math barely moved, but the paperwork around it did. These are the practical risks when migrating from the 1923 Act to the Code.

• Stale statutory references. Standing orders, appointment letters, settlement letters and insurance schedules that cite the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923 or its Section 3 or Section 4 now point at a repealed Act. Reword them to the Code on Social Security, 2020.
• Ignoring a notified amount. Because [SS Section 76] pays the multiplier figure or a notified amount, whichever is more, a settlement built only on the old formula can underpay. Check for a current notification before you settle.
• Coverage creep. The Code's appropriate Government, agent and aggregator definitions [SS Section 2] can change who is covered and which government administers a claim, particularly for contract, gig and platform workers. Reassess who your liability actually reaches.
• Insurance mismatch. Confirm that your employer's liability or workmen's compensation policy responds to liabilities under the Code, not only under the 1923 Act, at the next renewal.
• Wage-record gaps. The payout still depends on monthly wages and the relevant factor, so keep wage records clean; disputes will turn on the same numbers as before.

How to confirm

Treat this page as a map, not the statute. Verify every point against the Code on Social Security, 2020 and its repeal schedule on indiacode.nic.in: open the Code, read the employee's compensation chapter and confirm the section numbers there, then open the repeals and savings schedule to see the Employee's Compensation Act, 1923 listed as repealed. The figures here are grounded in Sections 2 and 76 of the Code; anything described only by topic should be read against the official text before you rely on it.

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