Most people learn their rights at work on the day those rights stop being honoured — the dismissal, the wages that never arrive, the benefit that gets refused. And the first question is never a legal one. It is simply: who do I complain to? India has a free, structured answer to that, rebuilt in late 2025 — though most of what you will find written about it describes the system that came before.
Labour disputes do not start in a civil court: you go to your workplace Grievance Redressal Committee, then the Labour Commissioner's Conciliation Officer, then the Industrial Tribunal — and since 21 November 2025 an individual worker can reach the Tribunal directly, without a union and without a government reference.
The bottom line
The route: Grievance Redressal Committee (mandatory at 20 or more workers), then the Labour Commissioner or Conciliation Officer, then the Industrial Tribunal.
What changed: under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, an individual dismissal is an industrial dispute in itself. You can apply to the Tribunal 45 days after applying for conciliation.
The deadline: two years from the termination. It is the one thing that can end a strong case before it is heard.
Central or state: which office is yours
The right authority depends on your employer, not on you. This is the "appropriate Government" rule.
- Central sphere — railways, mines, major ports, banking, insurance, telecom, oilfields and central public sector undertakings go to the central machinery, headed by the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central).
- State sphere — almost every other private establishment goes to your state's Labour Department and its Labour Commissioner.
- Contract labour — whichever government controls the establishment where the dispute arose.
Filing in the wrong jurisdiction stalls a case before it begins, so this is the part to settle first. On terminology: people search for a "Labour Commission", but the bodies that actually help you are the Labour Commissioner's office, the Conciliation Officer and the Industrial Tribunal.
What the Labour Commissioner does
The Labour Commissioner heads the labour department and does several jobs at once: enforcing labour laws through inspections, registering trade unions, administering welfare, and running conciliation of disputes through Conciliation Officers.
For a worker, the office is two things at the same time — the regulator that inspects employers, and the first official door your complaint goes through.
The three tiers, in order
Tier 1, in-house. Establishments with 100 or more workers have a Works Committee. Those with 20 or more must have a Grievance Redressal Committee for individual disputes, with equal worker and employer representation, proportionate representation of women, and 30 days to decide a grievance. A good many disputes are meant to end here.
Tier 2, conciliation. Where the Committee fails, a government-appointed Conciliation Officer mediates, with civil-court powers to summon people and documents. A settlement is recorded in a signed memorandum and is binding. Where there is no settlement, the officer records a failure of conciliation, which is the document you need to go further. The old Board of Conciliation has been abolished, and a conciliation officer cannot hold proceedings beyond two years from when the dispute arose.
Tier 3, adjudication. Unresolved disputes reach the Industrial Tribunal, now a two-member body with a Judicial Member and an Administrative Member. The Code abolished the old Labour Courts and merged their work into it, with a National Industrial Tribunal for disputes spanning states. The Tribunal hears evidence and passes a binding award.
Direct access, the real 2026 change
The Industrial Relations Code treats an individual worker's dismissal, discharge, retrenchment or termination as an industrial dispute in its own right. You no longer need a union to carry your case for you.
The second half matters as much. The old requirement that the government "refer" a dispute to adjudication — slow, discretionary, and the point where many claims quietly died — is gone. You apply directly to the Industrial Tribunal 45 days after applying to the Conciliation Officer if the matter has not resolved. For someone fighting a wrongful termination alone, that is a shorter and far more predictable path than the one it replaced.
How to file
- Raise it internally, in writing, through the Grievance Redressal Committee if your workplace has 20 or more workers.
- Write the complaint setting out the employer's name, your employment details, the violation, the dates and the relief you want — reinstatement, unpaid wages, dues.
- Take it to the Labour Commissioner or Conciliation Officer with the supporting documents: appointment letter, payslips, termination letter, relevant communications.
- File online where you can. The central SAMADHAN portal handles industrial disputes in the central sphere, and most states run their own labour grievance portals.
- Attend conciliation. If it settles, take the memorandum. If it fails, take the failure report.
- Escalate to the Industrial Tribunal, directly after 45 days, or within 90 days of a failure report, and in any event inside the two-year window for a termination.
Keep every document from the day you join. The appointment letter, the payslips and the termination letter prove your length of service and your dues, and those two facts decide most cases more surely than argument does.
Not every claim goes to the Tribunal
Matching the claim to the right forum saves months.
- Unpaid wages or bonus — the authority appointed under the Code on Wages, 2019, a dedicated wage-claims route with an appeal.
- Provident fund — the EPFO grievance system, EPFiGMS.
- ESI benefits — the ESIC grievance channel.
- Sexual harassment — your workplace Internal Committee under the POSH Act, then the Local Committee or appeal.
The deadline that ends cases
A termination dispute must reach the Tribunal within two years of the dismissal, discharge, retrenchment or termination. Miss it and you can lose the right to be heard however strong the case is.
The trap is a conciliation that drags. It feels like progress, the file is open, someone is dealing with it — and the 2 years keep running in the background regardless. Track the date from the termination, not from the last hearing.
A worked example
A worker at a private manufacturing company in Maharashtra, so the state sphere, is dismissed without a fair process.
She raises it first with the company's Grievance Redressal Committee, the firm having more than 20 workers, and it is not resolved in 30 days. She files a written complaint with the state Conciliation Officer under the Labour Commissioner, attaching her appointment letter, payslips and termination letter. Conciliation fails.
Because her dismissal is directly actionable as an individual dispute, she applies to the Industrial Tribunal, comfortably inside the two-year limit. The Tribunal hears both sides and passes an award. No union, no government reference, no civil-court detour.
Common mistakes
- Going to a regular civil court first. Labour disputes run through the labour machinery.
- Filing in the wrong sphere. Central-sphere employers go to the central machinery, most others to the state.
- Skipping the Grievance Redressal Committee where the workplace has one.
- Letting the two-year limit on termination disputes run out during conciliation.
- Losing the paper trail. Without it, length of service and dues become an argument rather than a fact.
Frequently asked questions
Who do I complain to if my employer violates my rights? Start with your workplace Grievance Redressal Committee, then the Labour Commissioner or Conciliation Officer, and if it remains unresolved, the Industrial Tribunal. Not a regular civil court.
Can I file a labour case without a union? Yes. Under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, an individual worker can take a dispute, including a termination, directly to the forums without union backing.
Is there an online way to file a labour complaint? Yes. The central SAMADHAN portal handles central-sphere industrial disputes, and most states have their own labour grievance portals, though availability varies.
What is the time limit to challenge a wrongful termination? Generally two years from the dismissal, discharge, retrenchment or termination.
Where do unpaid-wage complaints go? To the authority under the Code on Wages, 2019, a dedicated wage-claims route separate from the Tribunal.
What does it cost to bring a case? The labour machinery is free to access. Conciliation costs nothing, and no union membership is required to use it.