Background
Code on Social Security, 2020 (Act No. 36 of 2020) is one of the four central labour codes enacted by Parliament to consolidate and rationalise India’s social security legislation. It amends and merges nine central enactments — the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952; the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948; the Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923; the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961; the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972; the Cine Workers Welfare Fund Act, 1981; the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996; the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008; and the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 — into a single, unified framework covering provident fund, insurance, gratuity, maternity benefit, employee compensation, and welfare cess obligations. The Code received Presidential assent on 28 September 2020, and its substantive provisions, along with those of the Code on Wages, 2019, the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, were brought into force with effect from 21 November 2025 vide Gazette Notification No. 5143. The Code introduces a common registration and return-filing architecture across establishments, extends coverage to unorganised, gig, and platform workers for the first time, and empowers the Central and State Governments to frame scheme-specific and procedural rules to operationalise its provisions.
Rajasthan Code on Social Security Rules, 2026 are the State-specific procedural rules framed by the Government of Rajasthan under the rule-making powers conferred by the Code, prescribing the forms, timelines, registers, and State-level compliance procedures applicable to establishments operating in Rajasthan. These Rules were released in draft form vide Notification S.O. 151/S.O. 152 dated 12–13 January 2026, inviting objections and suggestions from stakeholders, and cover matters such as registration and its cancellation, nomination and payment of gratuity, maternity and compensation benefits, contributions to provident fund and insurance schemes, cess on building and construction work, compounding of offences, and the filing of periodic returns. As of the date of this note, the Rajasthan Rules remain at the draft stage pending final notification — unlike the Rajasthan Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2026, which were finalised and brought into force on 30 June 2026 — and readers are encouraged to verify the current status of these Rules before relying on specific timelines or forms referenced below.
Applicability
The compliance obligations covered in this blog apply across the several categories of establishments and workers that the Code on Social Security, 2020 and the Rajasthan Rules bring within their fold: provident fund and insurance fund provisions extend to factories and other establishments employing 20 or more employees, while employees’ State insurance provisions cover factories, mines, and plantations (including those belonging to Government) and any shop or establishment employing 10 or more persons on any day of the preceding twelve months, as well as establishments carrying on hazardous or notified life-threatening activities employing even a single employee, and plantations that opt into the ESI scheme; gratuity obligations apply to factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports and railway companies, and to any shop or establishment employing 10 or more persons; employee compensation provisions apply to employers and employees of establishments — including plantations — to which the ESI provisions do not extend; maternity benefit obligations extend to establishments in the public sector, to private-sector establishments employing 50 or more employees or as otherwise notified, and more broadly wherever women are employed; obligations relating to unorganised workers apply to establishments in the unorganised sector and to gig and platform workers; and cess and welfare obligations for construction workers apply to establishments falling under building and other construction work. Establishments covered generally under the Code on Social Security, 2020 are additionally subject to common registration, record-keeping, and return-filing obligations irrespective of the specific chapter under which they qualify.
Compliance Requirement Under the act in Accordance with the Rules & Regulations:
CG may establish a Provident Fund where the contributions paid by the employer to the fund shall be ten per cent. of the wages for the time being payable to each of the employees (whether employed by him directly or by or through a contactor), and the employee’s contribution shall be equal to the contribution payable by the employer in respect of him and may, if any employee so desires, be an amount exceeding ten per cent. of the wages, subject to the condition that the employer shall not be under an obligation to pay any contribution over and above his contribution payable 1) PF contribution shall be for all employs whether employed by him directly or by or through a contactor 2) The employer can recover , the employer’s contribution as well as the employee’s contribution in pursuance of any scheme and the employer’s contribution in pursuance of the Insurance Scheme) and any charge for meeting the cost of administering the fund paid or payable by an employer in respect of an employee employed by or through a contractor, from the contractor. This can be done either by deducting from any amount payable to the contractor or as a debt payable by the contractor. 3) This Section will not apply to establishment registered under Co-operative Societies Act, 1912 or any such State law employing less than 50 & working without aid of power or any Central/State Govt establishment whose employees are entitled to contributory PF or old age pension & to establishment where employees were receiving benefits of PF under any Central/State enactment before commencement of Code
CG to establish a Deposit-Linked Insurance Fund Scheme into which there shall be paid by the employer from time to time in respect of every such employee in relation to whom he is the employer, such amount, not being more than one per cent. of the wages or such per cent of wages. The employer shall pay into the Insurance Fund such further sums of money, not exceeding one-fourth of the contribution which he is required to make under this clause, as the Central Government may, from time to time, determine to meet all the expenses in connection with the administration of the Insurance Scheme other than the expenses towards the cost of any benefits provided by or under the Insurance Scheme. 1)The employer can recover the employer’s contribution in pursuance of the Insurance Scheme and any charge for meeting the cost of administering the fund paid or payable by an employer in respect of an employee employed by or through a contractor, from the contractor. This can be done either by deducting from any amount payable to the contractor or as a debt payable by the contractor. 2)This Section will not apply to establishment registered under Co-operative Societies Act, 1912 or any such State law employing less than 50 & working without aid of power or any Central/State Govt establishment whose employees are entitled to contributory PF or old age pension & to establishment where employees were receiving benefits of PF under any Central/State enactment before commencement of Code
The Central Government may, on an application made to it in this behalf by the employer and the majority of employees in relation to an establishment employing one hundred or more persons, authorise the employer by an order in writing, to maintain a provident fund account in relation to the establishment, in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government and subject to such terms and conditions as may be specified in the Provident Fund Scheme: Provided that no authorisation shall be made under this sub-section if the employer of such establishment had committed any default in the payment of provident fund contribution or had committed any other offence under this Code during the three years immediately preceding the date of such authorisation. Employer so authorized shall maintain the account, submit return, deposit contribution, provide facilities for inspection, pay administrative charges & abide by terms and conditions as specified in PF Scheme
An accident shall be deemed to arise out of and in the course of an employee’s employment notwithstanding that he is at the time of the accident acting in contravention of the provisions of any law applicable to him, or of any orders given by or on behalf of his employer or that he is acting without instructions from his employer, if— (a) the accident would have been deemed so to have arisen had the act not been done in contravention as aforesaid or without instructions from his employer, as the case may be; and (b) the act is done for the purpose of and in connection with the employer’s trade or business. Accidents during employment are considered work-related even if the employee is acting against the law or employer’s orders, as long as the accident would have occurred regardless and the action is connected to the employer’s trade or business.
If an employee employed in any employment specified in Part A of the Third Schedule contracts any disease specified therein as an occupational disease peculiar to that employment, or if an employee employed in the employment specified in Part B of that Schedule for a continuous period of not less than six months contracts any disease specified therein as an occupational disease peculiar to that employment or if an employee employed in any employment specified in Part C of that Schedule for such continuous period as the Corporation may specify by regulations in respect of each such employment, contracts any disease specified in such Part C as an occupational disease peculiar to that employment, the contracting of the disease shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be an “employment injury “, arising out of and in the course of employment. Save as herein provided, no benefit shall be payable to an employee in respect of any disease unless the disease is directly attributable to a specific injury by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment.
Penalty and Consequences
Section 86(1): Contravention of Prior-Permission Requirements for Lay-Off, Retrenchment or Closure
An employer who contravenes the provisions of Section 78, Section 79 or Section 80 of the Code shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees, but which may extend to ten lakh rupees.
Section 86(3): Contravention of Lay-Off, Retrenchment, Transfer or Closure Provisions
An employer who contravenes the provisions of Section 67, Section 70, Section 73 or Section 75 of the Code shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees, but which may extend to two lakh rupees.
Section 86(5): Commission of Unfair Labour Practices
Any person who commits any unfair labour practice specified in the Second Schedule to the Code shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees, but which may extend to two lakh rupees.
Section 86(7): Default by a Registered Trade Union in Furnishing Notices or Documents
Where default is made by a registered Trade Union in giving any notice or sending any statement or other document required under the Code, every office-bearer or other person bound by the rules of the Trade Union to give or send the same shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than one thousand rupees, but which may extend to ten thousand rupees; a continuing default shall attract an additional penalty of fifty rupees per day for as long as the default continues.
Section 86(10): Failure to Submit or Unauthorised Modification of Standing Orders
An employer who fails to submit draft standing orders as required by Section 30, or who modifies standing orders otherwise than in accordance with Section 35, shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees, but which may extend to two lakh rupees, and, in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine of two thousand rupees per day for as long as the offence continues.
Section 86(11): Contravention of Certified Standing Orders
An employer who does any act in contravention of the standing orders finally certified under the Code shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than one lakh rupees, but which may extend to two lakh rupees.
Section 86(13): Participation in an Illegal Strike
Any worker who commences, continues, or otherwise acts in furtherance of a strike that is illegal under the Code shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than one thousand rupees, but which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with both.
Section 86(14): Declaration of an Illegal Lock-Out
Any employer who commences, continues, or otherwise acts in furtherance of a lock-out that is illegal under the Code shall be punishable with a fine which shall not be less than fifty thousand rupees, but which may extend to one lakh rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with both.
Section 86(20): General Penalty for Other Contraventions
Any person who contravenes any other provision of the Code not covered under Section 86(1) to 86(19), or the rules or regulations framed under the Code, shall be punishable with a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees.
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