Labor Law Advocate - As a career option

“So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough”
-Elton John

Introduction

As we know, India is among the top nations to have a most extensive labor community. Until the time of India’s independence, the country was facing major restriction in terms of labor laws and trade union councils. But after independence, the labor class emerged as a powerful sector of the society.

Thus, to ensure the freedom and rights of this community, Government of India formulated a set of laws that protect and preserve the working of this section. The collective of this specific set of laws surfaced to be identified as labor laws, and those that advocated these backed by an academic prowess were identified as Labor Law Advocates.

Labor laws become a particularly special sect of law because even though there is a stipulated frame of working for labors with applicable laws, in ground reality labors are still suffering a great deal.

Their rights are being violated right now even as I write this. This cruel system of law encroachment has however seen a substantial fall in the past years due to the rise of some very prominent and educated lawyers. But the scope of labor law is still not slim yet.

How does an Indian Labor Laws help laborers?

Indian labor law refers to laws regulating labor in India. Traditionally, Indian governments at federal and state level have sought to ensure a high degree of protection for workers, but in practice, legislative rights only cover a minority of workers.

India is a federal form of government and because labor is a subject in the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution, labor matters are in the jurisdiction of both central and state governments; both central and state governments have enacted laws on labor relations and employment issues.

Indian labor law makes a distinction between people who work unorganized" sectors and people working in "unorganized sectors”. The laws list the different industrial sectors to which various labor rights apply.

For people who do not fall within these sectors, the ordinary law of contract applies. India's labor laws underwent a major update in the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947. Since then, an additional 45 national laws expand or intersect with the 1948 act, and another 200 state laws control the relationships between the worker and the company.

These laws mandate all aspects of employer-employee interaction, such as companies must keep 6 attendance logs, 10 different accounts for overtime wages, and file 5 types of annual returns.

The scope of labor laws extend from regulating the height of urinals in workers' washrooms to how often a work space must be lime-washed. Inspectors can examine working space anytime and declare fines for violation of any labor laws and regulations.

List of subjects upon which the government has made several laws that protect the rights of labors, through a number of acts and articles:

• Employment contracts

• Health and safety

• Wage regulation

• Pensions and insurance

• Trade Union and collective action

Furthermore, to protect the more detailed and complex problems faced by the laborers at the workplace by labors such as work place place harassment, gender discrimination and safeguarding the right of vulnerable groups and migrant workers, the government has made provisions too.

However, the problem arises because most of these labors are not well-informed or aware about their rights. This is where an advocate of Labor laws can benefit such ailing individuals with the power and proficiency of their knowledge.

How to become a Labor Law Advocate?

Labor lawyers provide legal counsel on employment and labor relations. They may represent individual employees, labor unions, or employers in the private or public sector.

Labor law, which is most commonly concerned with relations among unionized employees, their unions, and their employers, is technically distinct from employment law, which more broadly governs legal matters in the workplace (such as health and safety and discrimination). In practice, however, the two areas overlap considerably.

The procedure for becoming a labor lawyer is same as any other specific field of law study, until the point of selection regarding the branch of law you want to pursue. During the tenure of your bachelor’s programme from a law school, you will be taught the many sub-division that lie in the field.

After your basic course of Bachelors (B.A. L.Lb) is over, you must choose Labor law as your field of specialization and pursue as many internships as possible to gain the experience that will qualify you in becoming a full-fledged advocate of Labor laws.

A day in the life of a Labor Law Advocate

Hi, I’m a Labor Lawyer and I provide legal counsel on employment and labor relations in the private sector. I’ve been practicing for 10 years now and I have been interested in the branch since my early days as a student of law.

In due course, I selected labor law as my branch of specialization and ever since I haven’t looked back. Here’s how a day in my life goes by:

9:00 AM: Fresh start of the day with a new case. Certain issues have been stirring up in a real-estate company regarding the wages of its employed labors, which later resulted in a two-day strike.

My client is the company, which wants to settle the matter outside court as the media is always on the run to cover incidences of labor dissatisfaction. I’m looking through the case now for the simplest solution.

10:00 AM: Having studied the case I see what the problem is and it has a complex solution. It cannot be said that no labor laws have been violated as the labors have been made to work unpaid overtime for a while now. What’s more, the working conditions of the company go beyond the norms laid down by the government.

11:00 AM: Given the state of affairs, while a lot could have been done before the strike, at present there is no way that the company can go away from this without damages.

My counsel, hence, is to minimize damage by compensating the workers for the error and to take immediate steps to curb them. This’ll mean an immediate financial hardship, but will prevent the company from running into worse ends.

12:00 PM: A major part of my job deals with communicative abilities, as sometimes people don’t want to see what they are doing wrong.

I managed to explain the reality of the situation to the company and have managed to get a reasonable set of terms to negotiate with the trade union.

12:15 PM: I’m now going to see the trade union leader and explain to him the confusion in a most convincing manner possible. The objective is to call the strike off, and to prevent media coverage of the company’s folly as far as possible. I’m accompanied by the CEO of the company, so that immediate consensus can be reached.

1:30 PM: The strike has been called off for the moment, on the company’s word that it will make amends. I’m getting back to my office for some lunch. There’s a client meeting afterwards.

2:30 PM: I’m happy to have settled the strike this fast and promptly. This has given me a little extra time, which I’m going to spend with my interns discussing the details of their projects. I’m also going to update myself by reading up on  few recent case studies.

4:00 PM: I’m contacted by a social worker associated with an NGO regarding child labour in a rural part of the state. She says that underage children are hired by a multinational company and made to work longer-than-humane hours sewing garments by hand.

The children are miserable, malnourished, and deprived of their right to education. I listen to her, take elaborate notes, and accept it as my next case. I set an appointment with her at the end of the week, since a lawsuit against a large corporation requires significant preparation and toil – even visiting the area without a plan might be risky. This’ll take months to get over it, win or lose, and I can feel the adrenaline surge.

4:30 PM: My interns have prepared a case study that I need to take a look at. After I do so, I tell them discretely about today morning’s case – this is something I typically do keeping in mind the limits of confidentiality – it’ll do them a lot of good to see how an actual case goes down.

5:30 PM: Looks like we’re done for the day. I still have a few cases that I shall check up on from home. Leaving office now.

Are you concerned about laborers? Do you want to protect their right? Labor law advocate do exactly the same. We hope this proved to be a fruitful one for you. Have your say in the comment box below. Enjoy Reading!