India: Employment Litigation/ Tribunals

There is a practice so entrenched in Indian public administration that it has become almost invisible. A government body needs workers. Instead of following the constitutionally mandated process of open recruitment, it hires on contract, daily wages, or ad hoc terms. Years pass. Sometimes decades. The worker performs the same duties as a regular employee, sits at the same desk, reports to the same officer, and keeps the institution running. On paper, however, they remain ‘contractual’. No pension. No provident fund. No job security. No career progression.

The Tribunal awarded £20,735.91 (approximately INR 29 lakhs) in compensation to an Irish woman who suffered repeated racial harassment at the hands of her company’s director. The Tribunal found that the company’s director repeatedly targeted her Irish heritage through mocking slurs- including “potato”, “Paddy”, “stupid Paddy” and “pikey”.

The Indian labour law regime is currently undergoing its most significant structural transformation in over 70 years.