What are Nagaland's rules under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020?
Jurisdiction: Nagaland state rules under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020.
Nagaland published the draft Nagaland Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2023 in the Nagaland Gazette Extraordinary No. 239 on 14 December 2023 under Sections 133 and 135 of the OSH Code, 2020 and as required by Section 137, inviting objections within 45 days. The 72-page draft covers registration, employer and employee duties, the safety board and committees, working hours, leave and overtime, records and returns, contract and inter-state migrant labour, factories, hazardous processes, plantations and compounding. This page synthesizes those provisions; the verbatim text is on the linked /states page and the source PDF is available below.
Key facts
- Parent code
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020
- Jurisdiction
- Nagaland (state rules)
- Published
- 14 December 2023
- Gazette reference
- Notification NO.LAB-46/5/2015-16 (Vol-II), dated Kohima the 14th December 2023, Government of Nagaland, Office of the Labour Commissioner, published in draft under Sections 133 and 135 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 as required under Section 137 for a 45-day objection period, in the Nagaland Gazette Extraordinary No. 239 dated 14 December 2023
- Source gazette length
- 72 pages
Key obligations
Scope, draft status and registration
Source: Rules 1 to 6 and the notification header (Chapters I and II)
The rules are titled the Nagaland Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2023 and were published in draft; Chapter II sets registration of establishments.
- These rules may be called the Nagaland Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2023, extend to the whole State of Nagaland, and come into force on the date of their publication by the State Government (rule 1); as published they are draft rules that the Government proposes to make and are published as required under Section 137 for a forty-five-day objection period (notification header).
- An employer seeking registration applies electronically or in person in Form-I with the registration fee, which is banded by the number of employees from rupees 1,000 for up to 20 employees to rupees 20,000 for 1,001 and above; the certificate is issued in Form-II within seven days, failing which registration is deemed granted and auto-generated (rule 4).
- An employer already registered under another State labour law updates the particulars on the portal within six months of the Code's commencement, any change in ownership or particulars is notified within thirty days, and the registering officer keeps a register of establishments in Form-III (rule 4).
- An appeal against the registering officer's order lies to the appellate officer within thirty days (rule 5), and the employer of a factory, contract-labour or construction establishment gives notice of commencement or cessation of operation in Form-IV within thirty days (rule 6).
Duties of employer and employee, safety board and committees
Source: Rules 7 to 25 (Chapters III and IV)
The draft sets annual health examinations, appointment letters, the disease-notice duty, the Nagaland safety and health advisory board and safety committees and officers.
- Every employer of a factory and building or other construction work arranges a free annual medical examination, within 120 days of the start of each calendar year, for every worker who has completed 45 years of age, with the certificate in Form-V (rule 7).
- No employee is engaged unless issued a letter of appointment in the prescribed format (rule 8), and notice of a notifiable disease is given under Section 12 (rule 10); the duties of employees and the rights of employees to obtain information are set out (rules 11 to 12).
- The Nagaland Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board is constituted under Section 17, with provisions for resignation, cessation of membership, meetings, quorum and travelling allowance for members (rules 13 to 22).
- A Safety Committee and Safety Officers are provided under Section 22, including the composition of the Safety Committee and Safety Officers for building or other construction works (rules 23 to 25).
Working hours, night shifts and overtime
Source: Rules 26 to 35 and 54 (Chapter V)
The draft sets daily and weekly hours, spread-over, rest intervals, night-shift limits and extra wages for overtime.
- No worker works more than eight hours in a day and forty-eight hours in a week, the spread-over inclusive of rest intervals does not exceed twelve hours in a day, and no worker works more than five hours before a rest interval of at least half an hour (rule 26).
- Special provisions apply to working journalists and sales promotion employees, including compensation for overtime as equivalent rest, a limit on continuous night-shift working, a minimum interval of twenty-four consecutive hours when changing between night and day shifts, and ten holidays in a calendar year (rules 28 to 34).
- For overtime, a worker who works more than eight hours in a day or forty-eight hours in a week is entitled to wages at twice the ordinary rate, the daily wage of a monthly-paid worker being one twenty-sixth of the monthly wage, and no worker is allowed to work overtime exceeding one hundred twenty-five hours in any quarter of a year (rule 54).
Leave, registers, records and returns
Source: Rules 43 to 60 (Chapters V and VI)
The draft sets earned and other leave for working journalists and sales promotion employees and the registers, notices and returns every employer maintains.
- A working journalist or sales promotion employee earns earned leave on full wages of not less than one month for every eleven months on duty, ceasing to accrue once ninety days are due, with cash compensation for unavailed earned leave capped at thirty days on voluntary relinquishment or superannuation and ninety days on other termination (rules 43 to 44).
- Leave on medical certificate, quarantine leave, extraordinary leave and casual leave (no more than five days at a time) are provided, and compensatory holidays are spaced so no more than two are given in one week (rules 47 to 53).
- Every employer maintains reports, registers and records under Section 33, legibly in English and Hindi or the language understood by the majority (rule 56); displays a notice board showing the establishment particulars, hours of work, wage period and the accident record of the last five years (rule 57); files returns (rule 58); and keeps a register of leave with wages in Form-XI preserved for two years (rules 59 to 60).
Women workers, contract labour and inter-state migrant workers
Source: Rules 67 to 88 (Chapters VII and VIII)
The draft sets conditions for employing women, the licensing and conditions of contractors, and journey allowance for inter-state migrant workers.
- Where women are employed their consent is taken, adequate transport is provided, the workplace and access to facilities is well-lit, safe and healthy, and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is complied with (rule 67).
- A contractor must not be an undischarged insolvent or recently convicted of a serious offence, applies for a licence in Form-XIII, a single licence for more than one State is valid for five years and is applied for on the Shram Suvidha portal, and a bank guarantee of rupees 1,000 per contract worker plus a banded security is required (rules 69 to 72).
- A licence is renewed on application made at least thirty days before, and not before ninety days before, expiry (rule 75); contract wages are paid within seven days of the wage period through bank or electronic transfer (rule 81); unpaid wages may be met from the security deposit after inquiry (rule 82); and the licence may be revoked on a fifteen-day show-cause notice (rule 79).
- An employer pays an inter-state migrant worker a lump-sum to-and-fro journey allowance once in twelve months where the worker has worked at least 180 days in the preceding twelve months, and a toll-free helpline is displayed (rule 85).
Factories, hazardous processes, plantations and welfare
Source: Rules 90 to 118 (Chapter IX)
The draft covers factory approval and licensing, disclosure and safety for hazardous processes, and plantation housing, welfare and chemical-handling safeguards.
- Rules are made for factories including the mode of application for approval, the site appraisal committee, the manner in which an occupier discloses information, the maximum permissible limits of exposure to chemical and toxic substances, and the appellate authority against an Inspector-cum-Facilitator's order (rules 90 to 103).
- For plantations the draft sets housing accommodation, standards and sites, rent-free accommodation, educational and recreational facilities, and the safe use, handling, transport and storage of insecticides, pesticides and toxic substances, including restrictions on the employment of women and adolescent workers in handling them (rules 104 to 118).
- Where the parsed source carries evident OCR slips (for example a stray rule 198 heading printed among the plantation supervisor rules, and gaps in some rule numbers), the synthesis follows the operative text and does not repair the numbering; the source PDF is the authority for the exact rule numbers.
Offences, compounding, social security fund and repeal
Source: Rules 119 to 126 (Chapters on offences and miscellaneous)
The draft sets the enquiry into offences, the appeal, the compounding of offences, the destination of collected penalties and the repeal of earlier rules.
- An enquiry into an offence is held by a gazetted officer not below the rank of Assistant Labour Commissioner (rule 119), and an appeal against the enquiry officer's order lies to the appellate officer within thirty days accompanied by a fee of twenty-five per cent of the penalty imposed (rule 120).
- A compounding officer notified under Section 114 issues a compounding notice, the person noticed deposits the amount within fifteen days, and a composition certificate is issued in Form-XXIV within ten days of receipt, failing which prosecution proceeds (rule 121).
- Fines, penalties and other amounts collected are transferred to the Unorganized Workers Social Security Board, or deposited to the Nagaland Government Treasury until such board is constituted (rule 122).
- On commencement the rules repeal the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Rules, 1985 and the Nagaland Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2010, with actions taken under the repealed rules saved (rule 124).
Frequently asked questions
Official gazette PDF
Notification NO.LAB-46/5/2015-16 (Vol-II), dated Kohima the 14th December 2023, Government of Nagaland, Office of the Labour Commissioner, published in draft under Sections 133 and 135 of the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 as required under Section 137 for a 45-day objection period, in the Nagaland Gazette Extraordinary No. 239 dated 14 December 2023