Model Standing Orders India 2026: What Changes for Employers

Indian employment law is going through its biggest structural change in decades, and one piece of it landed with very little noise. On 8 May 2026 the Ministry of Labour and Employment notified the Model Standing Orders, 2026 — the rulebook that governs classification, discipline, leave and exit inside larger establishments. For the first time, the services sector has a model written for it rather than one borrowed from the factory floor.

The timing matters. The four new labour codes commenced on 21 November 2025, with the central rules following on 8–9 May 2026. Many state rules are still pending and existing acts continue to apply through the transition, so HR teams are working with a moving picture. The model standing orders are the clearest signal yet of what day-to-day compliance will actually look like.

What exactly are the Model Standing Orders, 2026?

They were notified by Notification S.O. 2312(E) dated 8 May 2026, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 29 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (35 of 2020). The notification operates in supersession of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central Rules, 1946 so far as those rules relate to model standing orders. If your handbook still quotes the 1946 Central Rules, it is quoting a document that no longer supplies the model.

Standing orders are the formal terms of employment governing daily conduct, disciplinary procedure and service conditions inside an establishment. The 2026 notification splits them into three schedules: Schedule A for mining, Schedule B for manufacturing, and Schedule C for services. The third is the genuinely new one.

Which employers do the standing orders actually apply to?

Applicability turns on headcount. Section 28(1) of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 reads:

“The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to every industrial establishment wherein three hundred or more than three hundred workers, are employed, or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months.”

Read the second half carefully. The test is not your headcount today — it is whether 300 or more workers were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months. A festive retail ramp-up or a project mobilisation can pull an establishment in even though the current payroll sits well below the line. Section 28(2) carves out workers governed by the civil service, defence civilian and Indian Railway Establishment Code rules.

Section 29(2) is the rule that makes inaction expensive. From the date the chapter becomes applicable until an establishment’s own standing orders are certified and come into operation under section 33, the model standing order “shall be deemed to be adopted in that establishment”. An employer who does nothing is not unregulated — it is being governed by a document it never read.

What does the new services-sector schedule change?

Schedule C is the first model standing order written for services. The 1946 rules contained no services-sector model, so IT, ITES, BPO, banking, retail, logistics and hospitality employers had to adapt a factory-shaped document to govern offices and support centres.

Clauses about entry through designated gates, shift patterns built around plant machinery and physical muster rolls never mapped cleanly onto a development centre or a contact centre. Schedule C assumes digital communication, flexible working and modern disciplinary risks such as data misuse.

What must a standing order cover, and how does certification work?

Every standing order, adopted or customised, has to cover the matters in the First Schedule to the Code, headed “MATTERS TO BE PROVIDED IN STANDING ORDERS UNDER THIS CODE”:

1. Classification of workers, whether permanent, temporary, apprentices, probationers, badlis or fixed term employment.
2. Manner of intimating to workers periods and hours of work, holidays, pay-days and wage rates.
3. Shift working.
4. Attendance and late coming.
5. Conditions of, procedure in applying for, and the authority which may grant leave and holidays.
6. Requirement to enter premises by certain gates, and liability to search.
7. Closing and reporting of sections of the industrial establishment, temporary stoppages of work and the rights and liabilities of the employer and workers arising therefrom.
8. Termination of employment, and the notice thereof to be given by employer and workers.
9. Suspension or dismissal for misconduct, and acts or omissions which constitute misconduct.
10. Means of redress for workers against unfair treatment or wrongful exactions by the employer or his agents or servants.
11. Any other matter which may be specified by the appropriate Government by notification.

Section 30(1) requires the employer to prepare draft standing orders within six months from the commencement of the Code, based on the model standing orders and covering every First Schedule matter. Section 30(2) then requires consultation with the trade unions, the recognised negotiating union or the members of the negotiating council before the draft goes to the certifying officer.

There is a much shorter route. Under section 30(3), where an employer adopts the Central Government’s model standing order, it “shall be deemed to have been certified”, and the employer only forwards the information to the certifying officer in the prescribed manner. The proviso keeps a check in place: if the officer has an observation, they may direct an amendment within the prescribed period. For employers with no unusual service conditions, adopting as-is is the fastest defensible route.

If you do need modifications, section 30(4) requires them to be forwarded for certification within six months from the date the chapter becomes applicable. Under section 30(5) the certifying officer notifies the union or negotiating council — or, where no trade union operates, worker representatives chosen in the prescribed manner — seeks comments and gives a hearing. The officer must finish within sixty days of receiving a draft, “failing which such draft standing orders or, as the case may be, the modifications in the standing order shall be deemed to have been certified on the expiry of the said period.” That clock runs against the officer, not the employer.

Once certified, the document is deliberately hard to move. Section 35(1) bars modification for six months from the date the standing orders, or the last modifications, came into operation, except by agreement with the workers or a union. Section 36 makes oral evidence that varies or contradicts them inadmissible in any court, and section 37 sends interpretation questions to the Tribunal.

Which day-to-day HR rules change under the 2026 model?

Classification and probation are standardised

Workers are classified as permanent, temporary, apprentices, probationers, badlis, fixed term employment and casual. The model sets probation at six months, extendable by up to three further months on an assessment of performance — nine months in total. If your offer letters still carry an open-ended or one-year probation, that is the first clause to revisit alongside your existing probation rules.

Fixed-term employment has a clean exit and a gratuity trigger

Cessation of employment on completion of a fixed term does not amount to retrenchment, which removes the retrenchment procedure from the end of a genuine project contract. The trade-off is that a fixed-term worker becomes eligible for gratuity where service under the contract extends to one year. Plan contract lengths knowing both halves of that rule, and keep it separate from your process for termination and retrenchment.

The notice board can be electronic, and shift changes need 21 days

Periods and hours of work, holidays, pay-days and wage rates must be exhibited on the notice board or the electronic notice board, in Hindi, English and the local language — so an intranet page or workplace app can now carry that obligation. Discontinuing or altering shifts requires twenty-one days’ notice, so roster redesigns need that lead time built in, along with the limits on working hours and overtime.

Casual leave is capped and final wages are due in two working days

The model provides casual leave of up to ten days in a calendar year, ordinarily applied for seven days in advance. The sharper change is at exit: wages payable on removal, dismissal, retrenchment, resignation or closure-related unemployment must be paid within two working days. Settlement cycles that run for weeks will not survive that clause — check it against your leave policy and payroll calendar together.

Work from home is expressly recognised

Work from home, remote-location working and virtual workplace arrangements are expressly recognised, subject to the terms of appointment. That last phrase is the operative one — the entitlement lives in the appointment terms, not in the model. Section 6(1)(f) of the OSH Code, 2020 already makes an appointment letter mandatory for every employee, and within three months for existing staff who never received one.

How do discipline, suspension and appeals work now?

The misconduct list has been brought up to date. It now expressly names unauthorised disclosure of confidential information, unauthorised access to the IT systems of the employer, customer or client, and false reimbursement claims. Those additions convert handbook policy into standing-order misconduct — a stronger footing than a performance improvement plan when conduct rather than capability is the issue.

Where a worker is suspended pending investigation or inquiry into misconduct, section 38(1) of the Code requires that the investigation or inquiry ordinarily be completed within ninety days from the date of suspension. During suspension, the model sets subsistence allowance at 50% of wages for the first ninety days and 75% thereafter. An appeal against a punishment order may be filed within twenty-one days of receipt. Between them, those timelines mean an open-ended suspension is no longer a workable holding pattern.

Does the exclusive-service clause ban a second job?

No — and this is the point most commentary gets wrong. The secrecy and exclusive-service provision in the Model Standing Orders, 2026 bars additional employment that may adversely affect the employer’s interests unless prior permission is obtained. That is a permission regime, not a flat prohibition on holding a second job.

The consequence for HR is a drafting one. A blanket “no outside work” clause overstates the model; silence leaves you with no basis to refuse a genuinely conflicting engagement. A disclosure-and-approval process is what the provision contemplates. Nor is a single national rule the whole picture: state shops and establishments legislation carries its own restrictions on working while on leave or on a holiday.

What should employers do in the next ninety days?

1. Run the headcount test properly. Check payroll across the preceding twelve months for any single day at 300 or more workers, not just this month’s number.
2. Close the appointment-letter gap. Confirm every employee holds a letter under section 6(1)(f) of the OSH Code, 2020, long-tenured staff included.
3. Read Schedule C against your handbook. Mark every clause where your policy is more generous, less generous, or silent.
4. Pick a route and commit. Adopt the model as-is for deemed certification under section 30(3), or prepare modifications — and start section 30(2) consultation early, because it is a precondition rather than a formality.
5. Fix the two-working-day settlement path and publish the electronic notice board in Hindi, English and the local language.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the Model Standing Orders, 2026 come into effect?

They were notified through Notification S.O. 2312(E) dated 8 May 2026, under section 29(1) of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, in supersession of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central Rules, 1946 so far as those rules relate to model standing orders. The four labour codes had commenced on 21 November 2025.

What is the headcount threshold for standing orders to apply?

Section 28(1) applies the chapter to every industrial establishment where three hundred or more workers are employed, or were employed on any day of the preceding twelve months. The backward-looking half catches employers out: one day at or above 300 during the past year is enough, even if headcount has since fallen.

Can an employer skip the certification process?

Effectively, yes. Under section 30(3), where an employer adopts the Central Government’s model standing order, it is deemed to have been certified and the employer simply forwards the information to the certifying officer in the prescribed manner. The proviso still lets the officer direct an amendment if they have an observation.

What happens if we do nothing at all?

You are still covered. Section 29(2) provides that from the date the chapter becomes applicable until an establishment’s own standing orders are certified under section 33, the model standing order is deemed to be adopted there. The risk is being governed by terms you have never checked against your operations.

What is the maximum probation period under the 2026 model?

Six months, extendable by up to three further months on an assessment of performance — nine months in total. Offer letters and confirmation workflows that assume a longer or open-ended probation should be reviewed against this, especially where confirmation has been allowed to lapse without a decision.

How quickly must final wages be paid?

Within two working days. The Model Standing Orders, 2026 require wages payable on removal, dismissal, retrenchment, resignation or closure-related unemployment to be paid in that time. Where full-and-final settlement runs on a monthly payroll cycle, meeting it needs a process change rather than a policy line.

The transition to the labour codes will be won or lost in the documents most employees never read — the appointment letter, the handbook, and now the standing order. If you are working through what the Model Standing Orders, 2026 mean for your establishment, or building an India–UAE workforce that has to satisfy both regimes, we would like to hear how you are approaching it. Join the ePeople India community →