Model Standing Orders Under the Industrial Relations Code (2026)

Explainer · Labour Law · Industrial Relations Code

Updated for 2026 · Claw Editorial

Standing orders are the written rulebook of an industrial establishment. They set out the terms on which workers are employed, from classification and shift timings to leave, attendance, termination, and what counts as misconduct. Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, an establishment with 300 or more workers must have standing orders built on the central model standing orders, and get them certified. The labour codes came into force on 21 November 2025. This guide explains who must have standing orders, what they must contain, and how they are certified and challenged. Last verified October 2026.

01Why standing orders exist

In a large workplace, both sides need to know the rules in advance. What are the shifts. How is leave taken. When is someone a permanent worker and not a probationer. What behaviour is misconduct, and what is the punishment. Left vague, these questions become disputes.

Standing orders fix the rules in writing and get them approved by a public officer, so they bind the employer and the workers alike. The idea, which came from the old Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, is now carried into the Industrial Relations Code, 2020.

02Model and certified standing orders

There are two linked ideas in Chapter IV of the Code.

• Model standing orders: under Section 29, the central government makes model standing orders covering the matters in the First Schedule. These are the template.
• Certified standing orders: under Section 30, the employer prepares its own draft, based on the model, and gets it certified by the certifying officer. An employer can also simply adopt the model standing orders.

03Who must have them

Standing orders are required for an industrial establishment that employs 300 or more workers. The old threshold under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act was 100, so the Code has raised it.

Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, standing orders are required for an industrial establishment with 300 or more workers, up from the old threshold of 100.

An employer covered by the rule must prepare and forward draft standing orders to the certifying officer within six months of the Code (or the provision) becoming applicable to the establishment. Below 300 workers, an establishment is not required to have certified standing orders, though the model orders can still guide practice.

04What they must cover

Standing orders must deal with the matters set out in the First Schedule to the Code. In plain terms, they cover the day-to-day terms of service:

Because misconduct and the punishment for it are defined here, standing orders are often at the centre of a disciplinary dispute. A worker can point to the certified standing orders to argue that a dismissal did not follow the agreed procedure.

05How they are certified

The process puts a check between the employer draft and the final rulebook.

1. Draft and consult. The employer prepares a draft based on the model standing orders and consults the trade union or the recognised negotiating union.
2. Forward to the certifying officer. The draft goes to the certifying officer, who gives both sides a hearing.
3. Certification. The certifying officer may require changes so the orders are fair and cover the required matters, then certifies them.

Once certified, the standing orders are binding and must be displayed in the workplace. Fixed-term hiring, where used, should fit with these classifications. For the rules on time-bound hiring, see fixed-term employment.

06Appeals and disputes

A person aggrieved by the certifying officer order can appeal to the appellate authority within the period set by the Code. The appellate authority can confirm or amend the standing orders.

Separately, a dispute about how standing orders apply, for example whether a dismissal followed the certified procedure, is an industrial dispute. It can go through conciliation and then the industrial tribunal. If the dispute is about ending service for a business reason rather than misconduct, see retrenchment and lay-off under the labour codes.

07Where Claw fits

Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals.

Most standing order fights are about misconduct and dismissal, and they are decided by industrial tribunals and High Courts on how earlier benches read the certified rules and the procedure that must precede a punishment. Claw brings that reasoning together. You can search more than 30 crore judgments, with High Court decisions covered from 1990 and Supreme Court decisions from 1950, to find how a court treated a dismissal that skipped the standing order procedure, with most searches returning in under 5 seconds, and you can follow a live reference through its orders and hearing dates by party or advocate name across the 9,102 courts, benches and forums Claw tracks.

Claw does not use customer case documents to train AI models, so the disciplinary record you upload stays yours. Create a free Claw account to follow a standing order matter by party or advocate name. To search the wider body of law, see case search across Indian courts.

08Sources and further reading

• India Code (official text of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020): indiacode.nic.in
• Ministry of Labour and Employment: labour.gov.in
• PRS Legislative Research (IR Code overview): prsindia.org
• Claw: clawlaw.in

This explainer is general information, not legal advice. The labour codes and their rules are still settling, so check the current text and your state rules and take advice from counsel before you act.

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