The Social Security Code consolidates nine statutes — EPF 1952, ESI 1948, Maternity Benefit 1961, Payment of Gratuity 1972, Workmen's Compensation 1923, BOCW Cess 1996 and three more — and adds the world's first national statutory frame for gig and platform workers. A practitioner's read on the gig and platform definitions, the 1-to-2 per cent aggregator contribution, the pro-rata gratuity rule, and the June 2026 commencement gap.
The May-June 2026 cycle in Indian labour and employment law has been dominated by the 8 May 2026 Industrial Relations (Central) Rules notification, the operationalisation of state-level gig-worker frameworks led by Karnataka, the continuing IFAT v. Union of India petition before the Supreme Court, and a clutch of apex-court rulings on workman classification and contract-labour referral jurisdiction.