An inter-state migrant worker under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020 is anyone recruited in one State for work in another, or who came on their own, earning up to ₹18,000 a month. Once an establishment has ten of them on any day in a year, Part II applies: the same benefits as every other worker, accident reports to both States, and a lump-sum fare home once a year after 180 days' service. For a Chennai plant with a crew from Bihar, Odisha or Jharkhand, that is most of the contract workforce.
Who counts, and from what headcount
Section 2(zf) defines the worker by two routes and one ceiling. The first route is recruitment "directly by the employer or indirectly through contractor in one State for employment in such establishment situated in another State". The second, new in the Code, is the worker who "has come on his own from one State and obtained employment in an establishment of another State", including one who later changed establishments within the destination State. Both are subject to a wage ceiling of ₹18,000 a month, or a higher figure the Central Government notifies. The 1979 Act covered only the first route; a worker who arrived at the gate without a contractor was invisible to it.
Section 59 applies Part II to "every establishment in which ten or more inter-State migrant workers are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months". The count is by establishment, not by contractor, so a plant with three contractors supplying four migrant workers each is at twelve and inside Part II even though no contractor is. It is a look-back, so the peak day in the previous year governs the current one. The old Act's threshold was five, and it applied to the contractor as well as the establishment [VERIFY: Inter-State Migrant Workmen (RE&CS) Act 1979, s.1(4), from general knowledge of the repealed statute].
| Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979 | OSH Code 2020, Part II | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is covered | Only workers recruited through a contractor | Recruited through a contractor or directly, or who came on their own (s.2(zf)) |
| Wage ceiling | None | ₹18,000 a month, or as notified (s.2(zf)) |
| Threshold | Five or more, establishment or contractor [VERIFY] | Ten or more in the establishment on any day of the preceding twelve months (s.59) |
| Separate licence and registration | Contractor licence and establishment registration specific to migrant workers [VERIFY] | None specific to migrant workers; the single registration under s.3 and, at 50 contract labour, the contractor licence under s.47 |
| Displacement allowance | 50% of monthly wages on recruitment [VERIFY: s.14 figure] | Not carried into the Code |
| Journey allowance | Fare both ways, paid by the contractor [VERIFY: s.15] | Lump-sum fare to and fro once a year after 180 days, paid by the employer (s.61; Central r.102) |
| Past debts | No equivalent | Debts owed to the contractor or principal employer are extinguished when the employment ends (s.65) |
The duties, and who carries each
Section 60 puts three duties on "every contractor or the employer" of an establishment employing inter-state migrant workers, jointly worded so that neither can point at the other. The first is "suitable conditions of work" that take account of the worker being away from their own State. The second is to report a fatal accident or serious bodily injury "to the specified authorities of both the States and also the next of kin of the worker", which is one report more than the site files for a local worker. The third is to extend every benefit available to a worker of that establishment, naming ESI and EPF specifically, and the free annual health examination that section 6(1)(c) requires for the classes of worker the rules prescribe.
Section 61 puts the journey allowance on the employer alone: "a lump sum amount of fare for to and fro journey to his native place from the place of his employment", once a year, on terms the appropriate government prescribes. Where the worker is contract labour the contractor is the employer for this purpose, and the cost should be visible in the contract rate rather than discovered at month seven [VERIFY: that "employer" in s.61 reaches the contractor for contract labour, by reference to the s.2(v) definition of employer]. The Ministry's FAQ on the Code (January 2026) is blunt on the parity point: "The Code does not distinguish regular and contract workers or ISMW" (Q10).
| Duty | Source | Who | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suitable conditions of work for a worker away from home | s.60(i) | Contractor or employer | Throughout |
| Report a death or serious injury to the authorities of both States and to next of kin | s.60(ii) | Contractor or employer | On the event, alongside the s.10 accident notice |
| ESI, EPF and every other benefit available to the establishment's workers; free annual health examination | s.60(iii), s.6(1)(c) | Contractor or employer | From day one; examination annually |
| Lump-sum fare home and back, once in twelve months | s.61; Central r.102; TN draft r.59 | Employer | After 180 days' service in the preceding twelve months |
| Statistics on the designated portal | Central r.13 | Employer | As the Central Government orders |
| Count of migrant workers in the registration particulars | Central Rules Form I | Employer | At registration and on amendment |
The journey allowance, worked through
Rule 102 of the OSH (Central) Rules 2026 fills in section 61 for central-sphere establishments, and the Tamil Nadu draft rule 59 follows it with one addition. The allowance is a lump sum for the fare "by train not less than II Class sleeper or by bus or any other mode of passenger transport" from the place of employment to the place of residence in the home State and back. It is earned by 180 days of work at the establishment in the preceding twelve months, and it is paid once in twelve months. The Tamil Nadu draft adds ₹100 per family member per day of travel for food, where the family lives with the worker at the place of work [VERIFY: whether the Tamil Nadu rules have been finalised and the figure retained].
Rule 102(2) deals with the case that actually happens: the worker changes employer mid-year. If the worker has not taken the allowance from the previous employer and gives a certificate to that effect, the current employer pays it once the worker has completed 180 days across both employers in the preceding twelve months. A contractor taking over a crew from another contractor inherits part of a 180-day clock, and the handover file should say how much. On the numbers, a crew of 40 migrant workers on a Chennai site, each entitled once a year to a sleeper fare home and back, is a predictable annual line; the sleeper fare is a published tariff and the site can price it, which is more than could be said of the old displacement allowance.
- Identify at onboarding. Home State, home station, monthly wage against the ₹18,000 ceiling, and whether the worker came through the contractor or on their own. Four fields on the joining form settle Part II status for the year.
- Run the 180-day clock per worker. Days worked at this establishment in the trailing twelve months, carried across a change of contractor with the r.102(2) certificate. The allowance falls due on day 180, not on the anniversary.
- Next of kin, with a phone number in the home State. Section 60(ii) requires the report to reach them; a joining form with a blank next-of-kin line is a report that cannot be made.
- Two accident reports, not one. The s.10 notice to the local authorities, which the Central Rules (r.7) require forthwith for a death, in Form XI, to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator, the District Magistrate, the police and the family, and within twelve hours after a 48-hour absence for an injury; and the s.60(ii) report to the home State's specified authority, which r.7 does not name [VERIFY: which home-State authority is specified, and by which instrument].
- No recovery of advances after exit. Section 65 extinguishes any debt a migrant worker owes the contractor or principal employer when the employment ends. A contractor who lends against wages and expects to recover from a final settlement has no claim once the worker leaves.
What the site does with a mixed crew
Treat Part II as a tag on the worker record, not a separate compliance stream. Everything it asks for is already in the establishment's registration (the Central Rules' Form I asks for the total number of inter-state migrant workers employed), in the contractor's register under section 33, and in the joining file. The site's exposure is the section 60 wording: "every contractor or the employer", which means a contractor's failure to pay a journey allowance, or to report a death to the home State, is one the principal employer is also named for. The contract with the contractor should carry the allowance as a priced line, the 180-day tracker as a monthly deliverable, and the next-of-kin field as a condition of deployment.
The public-distribution portability in section 62 and the toll-free helpline in section 63 are the appropriate government's to build, not the site's; the Ministry's FAQ points to the helpline as the route for a migrant worker in difficulty (Q8), and the Central Rules assign it to the Director General, Labour Welfare (r.103). Whether a particular arrangement, such as a worker whose wage crosses ₹18,000 mid-year or a crew that came on its own and later moved between two Chennai plants, falls inside or outside Part II is a question of fact on the definition, and one for the site's own counsel.
Sources
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (Act 37 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by DGFASLI — s.2(zf) (definition and ₹18,000 ceiling), s.6(1)(c) (annual health examination), s.10 (accident notice), ss.59 to 65 (Part II). Opened and read; quoted verbatim.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 345(E) dated 8 May 2026 — r.7 (notice of accidents), r.13 (portal statistics), r.102 (journey allowance: II class sleeper, 180 days, once in twelve months, change of employer), r.103 (helpline), Form I (count of migrant workers). Opened and read from a mirrored copy of the Gazette [VERIFY: against the e-Gazette original].
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (Tamil Nadu) Rules, 2022 (draft), G.O. Ms. No. 38, 11 April 2022 — draft rr.59 to 61 (journey allowance with ₹100 per family member per day, helpline, study). Opened and read. Draft only.
- Ministry of Labour and Employment, FAQs on the OSH Code, 2020 (January 2026) — Q8 (helpline), Q10 (no distinction between regular, contract and migrant workers). Opened and read.
- Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 — repealed by s.143 of the Code; the comparison column is from general knowledge of the repealed statute [VERIFY: s.1(4) threshold, s.14 displacement allowance, s.15 journey allowance]