Rights of Security Guards Under India's Labour Codes

What a security guard is entitled to, head by head

This table maps the seven basic heads to the labour code provisions that support them. The supplied law prints mechanisms, not many rupee figures, so any amount that depends on a Government notification is marked rule-set and carries no number here. Where the supplied text does not cover a head, the cell says so plainly rather than guessing.

Heads for a security guard under the supplied labour code text. Cells marked rule-set depend on a Government notification and carry no figure here. Any worked timing shown in the page is illustrative. Where a head is not covered by the supplied text it reads Not stated in supplied text.

What your employer must give you

You guard people and property, often on long shifts and through the night. The labour codes give you a set of basic rights that your employer cannot sign away. Here is what you should be getting, in plain terms.

One thing to be clear about: the supplied law does not print a special set of rules just for security guards. So your protection is the protection every worker gets, applied to your job.

• Your wage floor: you must be paid at least the minimum wage that the appropriate Government notifies for your area and your skill level. A floor wage set by the Central Government sits below that, so a state cannot fix your wage under the floor. The law here does not print a rupee figure, so read the notification that applies to your posting.
• Your pay on time: if you are paid monthly, your wage is due before the seventh day of the next month. Paid daily, it is due at the end of your shift. Paid weekly, before your weekly holiday. Paid by the fortnight, before the end of the second day after the fortnight ends.
• Your last pay fast: if you are removed, dismissed, retrenched, or you resign, or the establishment shuts down, your wages must reach you within two working days.
• No random cuts: your employer cannot cut your wages except for a deduction that the Code itself allows.
• Your hours: you cannot be required to work more than eight hours in a day. Your breaks and the spread of those hours over the day are set by Government notification.
• Your gratuity: once you complete at least five years of continuous service, you are owed gratuity when you retire, resign, or your fixed term ends. You do not need the full five years if you leave because of death or disablement. If a guard dies, the gratuity is paid to the nominee, or to the heirs if no nomination was made.

What to do if you are denied

If you are underpaid, paid late, or your wage is cut without cause, act in order. A clear record makes your case much stronger and it protects your time limit.

• Write down the facts: your shift timings, the wage you were promised, the dates you were paid or not paid, and any amount that was cut.
• Keep your proof: your appointment letter, your ID or duty card, the duty roster, your bank statement, and any wage slip you were given.
• Ask in writing first: send a simple written request to your employer or supervisor for the unpaid or short amount, and keep a copy for yourself.
• Note the start date: write down the date your problem arose, for example the day a wage fell short, because your time limit to raise a grievance runs from that date.
• If the written request fails, take the grievance route set out below.

Where to complain: authority, form and time limit

The code names a forum for an individual grievance like unpaid or short wages: the Grievance Redressal Committee. Read the where carefully, because it does not exist everywhere.

• Where it exists: in an industrial establishment that employs twenty or more workers. If you are posted at such an establishment, it must have one or more of these committees.
• Who can file: any aggrieved worker, which includes you.
• Time limit to file: within one year from the date your cause of action arose, for example the date your wage fell short.
• How the committee is built: it has an equal number of members for the employer side and the worker side, women workers represented at least in the same proportion as they are in the workforce, and no more than ten members in total. The chairperson rotates between the employer side and the worker side each year.
• How fast it decides: the committee may complete its proceedings within thirty days of receiving your application, and it decides by majority.
• The form: your application is filed in the manner the rules prescribe. The supplied law does not print a form number, so use the form your state rules set out.

Where to check your state

The codes leave many of the exact numbers to Government notification, and states notify their own rules and thresholds. Your minimum wage rate, your break and spread of hours, the gratuity amount, and the exact grievance form all come from the notification that applies where you work. Confirm your state position before you rely on any specific figure, and if your establishment has fewer than twenty workers, the Grievance Redressal Committee route may not apply to you, so ask which authority does.

A worked example of your pay date (illustrative)

The numbers below are assumed, only to show how the timing rules work. They are not statutory figures.

• Assume you are paid monthly and you worked the month of March. Your wage for March is due before the seventh day of April.
• Assume instead that you resign on 10 April. Your final wages are due within two working days, so by around 12 April, counting only working days.
• These dates are illustrative. Your real dates depend on your pay cycle and the working days in your state.

Frequently asked questions