Model Standing Orders are the Central Government’s ready-made template of employment rules under section 29 of the Industrial Relations Code. An employer who must have standing orders can adopt the model as it stands, and it is then deemed certified.

What the 2026 model covers

The Ministry of Labour notified the Model Standing Orders, 2026 on 8 May 2026 (S.O. 2312(E)) alongside the Industrial Relations (Central) Rules, replacing the 1946 central model. There are three schedules, for mining, manufacturing and services. The Code requires standing orders at industrial establishments with 300 or more workers (it was 100 under the old Act), and the draft is due within six months of the chapter applying to you.

Content follows the matters listed in the Code’s First Schedule: classes of workers (the model lists permanent, temporary, apprentice, probationer, badli, fixed term and casual), hours, shifts, leave, pay-days, termination notice, and suspension or dismissal for misconduct. Wage-payment timing is spelled out too, from end of shift for daily workers to within seven days of month-end for monthly workers. On discipline, the statute itself fixes the frame: an inquiry should ordinarily finish within 90 days of suspension, and the domestic enquiry runs against subsistence allowance of 50 per cent of wages for the first 90 days and 75 per cent after, if the delay is not the worker’s doing. Law-firm summaries of the 2026 model also report a 21-day window to appeal a punishment; read the notified text before you quote that in a policy.

Adopting versus drafting your own

Adopt the model and you inform the certifying officer; the Central Rules, as summarised by law firms, treat it as certified if no observation comes within 30 days. Draft your own and you must consult the union or worker representatives, cover every First Schedule matter, and go through certification, which the officer is to complete within 60 days or the draft is deemed certified. Until certified orders take effect, the model is deemed adopted anyway under section 29(2). Whichever route you pick, keep your appointment letter and code of conduct consistent with it.

Frequently asked questions

Is adopting the model compulsory?

No. You may draft your own orders, provided they cover every First Schedule matter and are not inconsistent with the Code. Adopting the model is simply the faster, pre-certified route.

Can we add our own clauses to the model?

Modifications go through certification, which the Code handles separately for the changes only. Adopting the model unchanged is what attracts the deemed certification.

We have 150 workers. Do we need them?

Not under the Code’s 300-worker rule, which is counted on any day of the preceding 12 months, and the appropriate government can exempt classes of establishments. Smaller firms usually run on an employee handbook instead.

For how misconduct is handled in practice, see disciplinary action and misconduct.