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Labour Law Digest 2025 by Kharbanda & Kharbanda (V.K. Kharbanda), published by Law Publishing House (LPH), is the latest volume in a digest series that has been reporting the labour judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Courts for decades. This is the 2026 Edition, and it comes alongwith a Comparison Table showing the sections of the New Labour Codes with the corresponding sections of the repealed Labour Laws. Hardbound. ISBN 9788189639143.

That comparison table is the reason this particular volume matters. The four Labour Codes — the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020 — were brought into force on 21 November 2025, subsuming twenty-nine existing labour enactments. Every reported judgment on labour law decided before that date is stated in the numbering of statutes that no longer exist. The case law did not disappear with the statutes, but finding the provision it now answers to requires a concordance — and that is what this edition supplies, next to the digest itself.

Key Features

• 2026 Edition, published by Law Publishing House
• Comparison Table mapping the sections of the New Labour Codes to the corresponding sections of the repealed labour laws
• Digest of the labour and industrial judgments of the Supreme Court and the High Courts
• Arranged topic-wise and Act-wise for quick reference
• Continues the Kharbanda digest series, edited in a concise and readily usable style
• Hardbound · English

Coverage

Industrial Disputes and Adjudication. What constitutes an industrial dispute and who is a "workman"; reference and adjudication; the powers of the Labour Court and the Industrial Tribunal; awards and their enforcement; and the writ jurisdiction over labour awards.

Termination of Employment. Retrenchment and the conditions precedent; lay-off and closure; termination simpliciter and termination as punishment; reinstatement, back wages and the circumstances in which compensation is granted instead; and the treatment of daily-wage, casual and contractual workers.

Disciplinary Proceedings. The charge-sheet and the domestic enquiry, principles of natural justice, the standard of proof, dismissal and removal, the proportionality of punishment, and the scope of interference by the Tribunal.

Strikes, Lock-outs and Trade Unions. Legal and illegal strikes, go-slow and work-to-rule, lock-outs, recognition of trade unions, unfair labour practices, and the principle of "no work, no pay".

Wages and Allowances. Minimum wages, timely payment and authorised deductions, equal pay for equal work, and dearness allowance.

Bonus, Gratuity and Provident Fund. Eligibility for and calculation of bonus; gratuity, continuous service and forfeiture; and provident fund contributions, the definition of "basic wages" and the liability of the principal employer.

Contract Labour and Principal Employer. Abolition and regularisation, sham and camouflage arrangements, and the liability of the principal employer for a contractor's workmen.

Employees' Compensation and Social Security. Accidents arising out of and in the course of employment, notional extension, dependants' compensation, and ESI matters.

Standing Orders, Seniority and Service Conditions. Certified standing orders, transfer, promotion and seniority, regularisation of service, and conditions of service generally.

Comparison Table — New Labour Codes and Repealed Laws. Section-by-section concordance for the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and the Code on Social Security, 2020, against the provisions of the enactments they replace — including the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the Factories Act, 1948, the Contract Labour Act, 1970, the Trade Unions Act, 1926 and the Employees' Compensation Act, 1923.

Who Should Buy This Book?

• Labour law practitioners appearing before Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals
• Advocates in writ petitions arising out of labour awards
• HR heads, IR managers and compliance officers of factories and establishments
• Company Secretaries and corporate legal teams handling labour compliance
• Trade union office bearers and workers' representatives
• Labour Commissioners, conciliation officers and inspectors
• Presiding Officers of Labour Courts and Industrial Tribunals
• Payroll and statutory compliance consultants adapting to the new Codes
• LL.B. and LL.M. students of labour and industrial law
• Law libraries, corporate libraries and institutional collections

Why Choose This Book?

Labour law is decided on precedent to an unusual degree. Whether a termination is retrenchment, whether an enquiry was fair, whether back wages follow reinstatement — none of these is answered by reading the section, and all of them are answered by a line of cases. A digest that collects the year's judgments topic-wise is how a practitioner keeps that line current without reading every journal.

What makes this edition worth having over an older digest is the transition. From 21 November 2025 the pleadings are drawn under the Codes while the authorities are reported under the repealed Acts, and every labour practitioner is now doing that translation daily. Having the concordance bound in with the case law — rather than in a separate volume or on a website — means the provision and the precedent are found in one movement.