Piercing the Contractor Shield: Principal Employer Liability for Contracted Facility and Security Staff under the OSH Code, 2020.

Abstract: Most organizations now depend on outside contractors for security, housekeeping, cleaning and other facility work. It makes commercial sense, because a business can concentrate on what it actually does. But it also leaves an awkward question hanging. When the person guarding the gate or cleaning the corridor is on someone else's payroll, how much is the organization that benefits from their work still answerable for? This article looks at that question under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 (OSH Code). It explains what a principal employer owes contracted facility and security workers in terms of welfare, safety and wages, and what it must do about the contractor's compliance. It then shows how the law tells a genuine contracting arrangement from a sham one, using two Supreme Court decisions: Air India Statutory Corporation v. United Labour Union (1997) and Steel Authority of India Ltd. v. National Union Waterfront Workers (2001). The argument is a balanced one. The OSH Code does not turn every contract worker into an employee of the principal employer, but it does not let the principal employer walk away either. Keywords: Contract labour; principal employer; contractor; OSH Code 2020; occupational safety; security staff; facility workers; housekeeping workers; welfare; wages; sham contract; worker protection.