The Second National Commission on Labour recommended that the existing labour laws must be amalgamated into five heads – Industrial Relations, Wages, Social Security, Safety and Welfare. According to the recommendation on Wages, the Code of Wages was promulgated to amalgamate, simplify and rationalize the provisions of four central labour enactments. The primary change is the evolution of the definition of wages under the Code of wages from the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. The List of remuneration not included in wages has been expanded for the benefit of the employees.

The Procedure to be followed for fixing the wages has also seen a shift towards a more worker-friendly process, to prevent exploitation of the workers which was a prevalent practice before. The changes to the procedure have also made fixing of minimum wages, simpler and more rational. Fixation and Revision of Minimum Wages form an intrinsic part of the Code. They determine the procedure and the provisions to be followed by the appropriate Government while determining the minimum wage rate for a particular set of employees. The Principle of fixation and revision of wages has also experienced a modification from the defunct Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (MWA) to the Code of Wages, 2019. The Legislature has tried to plug the loopholes present in the previous legislation on wages, which were used by the employers to exploit employees.  The evolution of the law concerning fixation and revision of wages from the MWA to the Code of Wages, 2019 has been mapped out by this Research Paper.

DOI: http://doi.one/10.1732/IJLMH.25607