Welfare Provisions (including Creche) — Labour Law II Notes

Welfare Provisions (including Creche)

A factory manager refuses to build a creche: “Only two of my women have small children — why bother?” He has misread the law completely. The creche is triggered by how many people work there, not by how many babies there are — and that single misunderstanding is a favourite exam trap.

The welfare measures, and the creche threshold

Welfare provisions (Section 24 and Chapter IV) make the workplace liveable, not just survivable:

Washing facilities — adequate and suitable, separate for men and women.
Facilities for storing and drying clothing.
Facilities for sitting for workers who work standing.
First-aid appliances — a first-aid box per prescribed number of workers, and an ambulance room in larger establishments.
Canteens — in establishments above a threshold of workers.
Rest-rooms / shelters and lunch-rooms — above a threshold.
Creche — in establishments employing the prescribed number of workers, a creche for the use of the workers’ young children, so a parent can work knowing the child is cared for and can visit to feed it.
Welfare officers — in large establishments.

The creche rule you must state precisely. The creche duty is triggered by a threshold number of employees/workers in the establishment (the OSH Code sets this at 50 workers; the old Factories Act s.48 used 30 women workers). It is not triggered by, or dependent on, how many workers actually have eligible children. So an employer who crosses the threshold must provide a creche even if only one or two workers have small children.

Section 24, OSH Code 2020 (in brief): “The employer shall be responsible to provide and maintain … welfare facilities … including … creche … as may be prescribed by the Central Government.”

In Simple Terms: Welfare = washing, sitting, first-aid, canteen, rest-rooms and a creche. The creche kicks in once the establishment has the threshold number of workers — the number of children is irrelevant.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — the creche refusal

Facts. 35 women are employed; only two have children under five, so the manager refuses a creche.

Rule. The creche duty is triggered by the threshold number of workers, not by how many workers have eligible children (s.24; old Factories Act s.48 — 30 women).

Decoy. “Only two have children” is planted to make you excuse the creche — ignore it; the trigger is the workforce size.

Apply. With 35 women the establishment crosses the old 30-women threshold (and workforce thresholds under the Code), so the creche is mandatory regardless of how many have children.

Conclusion. The refusal is wrong; the employer must provide the creche.

flowchart TD
    ROOT["Welfare provisions (s.24)"]:::root
    ROOT --> W["Washing, storing/drying, sitting"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> FA["First-aid, ambulance room"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> CAN["Canteen, rest-rooms, lunch-rooms"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> CR["Creche — triggered by WORKER count, not child count"]:::pay
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,stroke-width:1px,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    classDef pay fill:#E7F6E7,stroke:#217a21,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

Case Laws

Municipal Corporation of Delhi v Female Workers (Muster Roll) (2000) — creche and maternity-related welfare flow from Article 42 and reach even casual women workers.

📄 Full notes + Question Bank (₹199) — every topic in depth, model answers to all past KSLU questions, in one printable PDF. Get the bundle · 10 Solved Problems · All Labour Law II topics