Rights of Employees With Unpaid Salary Under India's Labour Codes

What you are owed when your salary is unpaid, and how to complain

This table covers what the four labour codes give an ordinary employee whose salary is unpaid, and the route to complain. Where the supplied law text sets no figure, the cell describes the mechanism and the flag names what is rule-set or not stated. There is no special carve-out for unpaid-salary employees in the supplied text, so this rests on the common worker rights.

Grounded in the supplied labour-code text. Cells noting Government-notified, rule-set, or 'not stated in supplied text' items are flagged below; the illustrative example in the page uses assumed figures only. No unpaid-salary-specific carve-out exists in the supplied text, so this rests on common worker rights.

What your employer must give you

Your salary is a legal right, not a favour. Under the Code on Wages your employer must pay you on time. If you are paid monthly, your wages are due before the 7th of the next month. If you are paid daily, you are due at the end of the shift. Weekly pay is due before the weekly holiday, and fortnightly pay before the end of the second day after the fortnight ends. [COW Section 17]

If you leave the job, the clock is shorter. When you are removed, dismissed, retrenched, resign, or the establishment shuts down, your pending wages must reach you within two working days. [COW Section 17]

Your employer cannot quietly shrink your pay. The Code on Wages allows only the deductions it permits, so a cut you did not agree to and the law does not allow is not a lawful deduction. [COW Section 18]

• Monthly salary before the 7th of the next month [COW Section 17]
• Final wages within two working days of leaving or dismissal [COW Section 17]
• No deductions beyond those the Code allows [COW Section 18]
• A working day capped at eight hours, with breaks and spread over as the Government notifies [OSH Section 25]
• Gratuity when you leave after at least five years of continuous service [SS Section 53]

What to do if you are denied

Start with a written record. Ask your employer, in writing, for the exact amount owed and the period it covers, and keep a copy. A dated email or letter becomes your evidence later.

Note when your claim arose. Your right to be paid becomes firm on the due date the Code sets, for example the 7th of the next month for monthly pay, or two working days after you leave. That date starts the clock to complain. [COW Section 17]

• Put your demand in writing and keep proof of when you sent it.
• Gather payslips, your appointment letter, bank statements, and attendance records.
• Work out the exact unpaid amount and the months it covers.
• If your workplace has 20 or more workers, take it to the Grievance Redressal Committee. [IR Section 4]

Where to complain: authority, form and time limit

In an industrial establishment with 20 or more workers, an individual grievance like unpaid salary goes to a Grievance Redressal Committee. The committee is made up of an equal number of employer and worker representatives, with women workers represented in at least the same share as their share of the workforce, and it can have up to ten members. [IR Section 4]

Any aggrieved worker can file. You must file within one year from the date your cause of action arose, that is, from the date the wages became due and were not paid. Once you file, the committee may complete its proceedings within thirty days, and it decides by majority. [IR Section 4]

The exact application form and the manner of filing are set by the rules, so the form number is not fixed in the code itself. Confirm the prescribed form and filing manner for your establishment before you submit.

• Authority: Grievance Redressal Committee, for establishments with 20 or more workers [IR Section 4]
• Who can file: any aggrieved worker [IR Section 4]
• Time limit to file: within one year of the cause of action [IR Section 4]
• Time to decide: the committee may finish within thirty days; decision by majority [IR Section 4]
• Form: prescribed by the rules (form number not stated in the supplied text)

Where to check your state

Labour is a subject where states notify their own rules and thresholds under the central codes. The pay dates, the list of allowed deductions, working-hour details, and the exact grievance form can be set by your state government. The central rule tells you the shape of your right, and your state notification fills in the local detail.

Before you file, confirm your state position: the notified pay period, any different time limit the appropriate Government has set for payment, and the prescribed grievance form. [COW Section 17] [IR Section 4]

An illustrative timeline

Here is an illustrative example. The salary figure and dates below are assumed, for arithmetic only, and are not statutory figures. Suppose your monthly salary is an illustrative 30,000 rupees and it is not paid for August. Your monthly wages for August were due before the 7th of September. [COW Section 17]

That unpaid due date is when your cause of action arises. From it, you have up to one year to file before the Grievance Redressal Committee, and once filed the committee may finish within thirty days. If a second month also went unpaid, the illustrative amount owed would be two months of salary, that is 60,000 rupees in this example only. [IR Section 4]

Frequently asked questions