In brief
A factory dispute is a labour dispute with machines, shifts, and a standing order behind it. We act in terminations, wages, and union issues, before the labour court and in the conciliation that is supposed to come first.
Discuss this matter
The dispute
Termination, wages, and the conditions on the shop floor.
The forum
Conciliation, labour courts, and industrial tribunals.
The rule book
The Industrial Disputes Act, the Factories Act, and standing orders.
The brief
What clients ask us
Choose a question. The answer sets out the work we actually take in this practice, in plain language.
Answer
The dispute is usually about how a job ended, what was paid, or how the workplace was run. We appear for the party that instructs us, on that industrial record.
- Disputes between employers and workmen
- Wrongful termination, retrenchment, and lay-off
- Wages, working conditions, and other service conditions
- Unfair labour practices
What disputes do you take in a factory or an industrial establishment?
Answer
The dispute is usually about how a job ended, what was paid, or how the workplace was run. We appear for the party that instructs us, on that industrial record.
- Disputes between employers and workmen
- Wrongful termination, retrenchment, and lay-off
- Wages, working conditions, and other service conditions
- Unfair labour practices
Where are those cases heard?
Answer
Not in an ordinary civil court as a first step. The industrial law sends most of these disputes through conciliation and then to a labour court or a tribunal.
- Labour courts
- Industrial tribunals
- The authorities under the industrial enactments
Will you try to settle it before a full hearing?
Answer
Yes, when a settlement will hold. Conciliation, mediation, and arbitration are part of this practice because the statute prefers them, not because they sound softer.
- Conciliation
- Mediation
- Arbitration of an industrial dispute
Which statutes decide this work?
Answer
The Industrial Disputes Act and the Factories Act are the centre. Standing orders, and the contract the workman was actually working under, decide the rest.
- Industrial Disputes Act
- Factories Act
- Other labour legislation that touches the establishment
- Employment contracts and service agreements
- Standing orders and disciplinary action
Do you deal with unions?
Answer
Yes. A collective dispute is a different brief from one dismissal. The demands, the settlement, and the authority of the person signing it all have to be real.
- Trade union matters
- Collective bargaining
- Settlements that bind the workmen they claim to bind
The path
How a matter moves
01
Workman or not
The person's status decides the forum. We check the work, not only the designation.
02
The standing orders
Dismissal and discipline are read against the standing orders and the enquiry record.
03
Conciliation
We attend with a figure and a mandate, or we record why settlement is not possible.
04
Reference and trial
If the dispute is referred, the labour court or the tribunal hears it on pleadings and evidence.
Before you instruct us
Questions on this practice
We dismissed a worker after an enquiry. Is that enough?
Only if the charge, the enquiry, and the punishment sit inside the standing orders. Bring the enquiry file before you treat the dismissal as closed.
Can a factory dispute be filed as a civil suit?
Usually the industrial forum is the one the law provides. A civil suit filed out of habit can be the wrong proceeding. We will say which one the facts require.
A union has given a strike notice. What is the legal step?
Read the notice against the Industrial Disputes Act before any disciplinary threat is issued. The legality of the strike, and of a lock-out, are advice we give on the notice itself.
Do you draft standing orders?
Yes, and we review orders that have not been looked at for years. An outdated standing order is a common reason a dismissal fails.
Is this different from the labour law practice?
Labour law covers employment more widely, including handbooks, benefits, and office establishments. This practice is the industrial and factory dispute: the shop floor, the standing order, and the labour court.
These answers describe the practice. They are not advice on the facts of your matter.
Next step
