Maharashtra Labour Law Compliance Guide for Employers, 2026 Edition

The 4 Labour Codes, What Changed (Effective 21 November 2025)

India's four new Labour Codes, the Code on Wages, the Industrial Relations Code, the Code on Social Security, and the Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions (OSH) Code: came into force on 21 November 2025, consolidating 29 central labour laws into four.

What this means for Maharashtra employers:

• The Codes now sit above many existing Maharashtra state laws. Several state acts (Shops & Establishments, Professional Tax administration, Labour Welfare Fund) continue to operate, but increasingly within the framework of the Codes.
• "Wages" is now defined uniformly: basic + DA + retaining allowance must be at least 50% of total remuneration, which changes PF, gratuity and bonus calculations for most salary structures.
• Appointment letters are now mandatory for every employee.
• Important: the Codes are in force and the Central Rules under them were notified on 8 May 2026. Maharashtra published its draft State Rules on 28 April 2026 and final State Rules are still awaited, so check the latest state notification before relying on a Maharashtra-specific rule. During this transition, employers should comply with both the existing Maharashtra acts and the new Codes, we track both so you stay covered.

Two practical notes. State rules under the four codes are notified state by state; for a worked example of what notified rules change, see our Karnataka Labour Code state rules guide. And if you would rather not run payroll and attendance registers in-house, compare the top payroll outsourcing companies in India, or move to a cloud HRMS with an attendance module that keeps these records current automatically.

Last updated: 27 October 2026. Labour Code rules are evolving; we update these guides as new notifications are issued.

Maharashtra Labour Code Rules 2026: What Employers Must Check

The four Labour Codes apply across India, but each state notifies its own rules under them. For employers in Maharashtra, that means checking two things: the central Codes and the Maharashtra rules under each Code.

• Code on Wages: state rules on minimum wages, wage payment and bonus.
• OSH Code: state rules on registration, licences, working hours and welfare facilities.
• Industrial Relations Code: state rules on standing orders, layoffs and disputes.
• Social Security Code: state rules on social security schemes and welfare boards.

What to do now: review your payroll, contracts and registers against the Maharashtra rules as they are notified, and keep following the existing state acts until they are fully replaced. Offices in Mumbai and Pune and plants in Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad should check both.

Key Maharashtra State Laws for Employers

1. Maharashtra Professional Tax (PT)

The Maharashtra State Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 1975 governs Professional Tax in the state.

Employee PT Slabs (Monthly)

Key points:

• Maximum annual PT: ₹2,500 per employee
• Employer must register on Maharashtra GST/PT portal (two registrations: PTRC to deduct employees' tax, PTEC for the employer's own tax of ₹2,500 a year for companies, each partner of a firm, and most employers with more than 2 employees)
• Return frequency: monthly if the previous year's tax was above ₹50,000, otherwise one annual return (Trade Circular 37T of 2018)
• Due dates: monthly payment by the last day of the following month; since a notification of 28 February 2026, the March return and the annual return are due by 15 March of each financial year
• Penalty for late payment: ₹5 per day of default
• Women earning up to ₹25,000/month are exempt

2. Maharashtra Labour Welfare Fund (MLWF)

Under the Maharashtra Labour Welfare Fund Act, 1953:

• Employee contribution: ₹25 per half-year (deducted from salary in June and December)
• Employer contribution: ₹75 per half-year per employee
• Due dates: 30th June and 31st December
• Rate basis: a flat ₹25 and ₹75 for every employee since the 2024 amendment, with no wage bands; the State can raise it by up to 30% once every 3 years
• Applicable to: All establishments with employees in Maharashtra
• Payment: Through Maharashtra LWF online portal

3. Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act, 2017

The new Act (replacing the 1948 version) applies to every shop and commercial establishment in Maharashtra:

Registration

• Online registration mandatory within 60 days of commencement
• Registration through Maharashtra's online portal (mahaonline.gov.in)
• Valid for the lifetime of the establishment (no renewal needed under new Act)

Working Hours

• Maximum 48 hours/week; 9 hours/day under the 2017 Act, or 10 hours/day under Ordinance VIII of 2025 (1 October 2025)
• Overtime at double the ordinary rate of wages
• Women allowed to work in night shifts (with safety provisions)
• Mandatory weekly holiday (Sunday or any other day)

Leave Provisions

• Earned leave: 1 day for every 20 days worked (after 240 days), up to 45 days
• Casual leave: 8 days a year
• Sick leave: not separately fixed by the Act; set it in your leave policy
• Paid festival holidays: 8 a year (see the leave section below)

4. Maharashtra Minimum Wages

For shops and commercial establishments, Maharashtra rates from 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2026 are the basic wage plus a special allowance of ₹4,134 a month (Labour Commissioner order dated 5 August 2026). There are three zones and three grades; highly skilled staff are paid at least the skilled rate.

What counts: compare only the basic wage plus the dearness or special allowance with the minimum. HRA, conveyance, overtime and bonus are paid on top and do not help you meet it.

Worked example: a 10-person team in Pune

Six unskilled, three semi-skilled and one skilled employee in Pune, all paid exactly the minimum:

For one unskilled employee on ₹14,155: PF ₹1,699 each from employee and employer (12%, wages below the ₹25,000 PF ceiling) and ESIC ₹107 (employee) and ₹461 (employer). That leaves a take-home of about ₹12,349 before professional tax, and costs you about ₹16,315 a month. PF becomes compulsory at 20 employees and ESIC at 10 in notified areas.

Minimum wage rules small employers miss in Maharashtra

• Zone follows the workplace: a shop in Pune pays Zone I rates even if the business is registered elsewhere. An industrial area within 20 km of a corporation is also Zone I.
• Highly skilled: the order has no separate highly skilled rate for shops, so pay at least the skilled figure.
• Half-yearly resets: the special allowance changes from 1 January and 1 July. The July 2026 order was only issued on 5 August 2026, so arrears for July were due once it came out.
• Women staff and PT: Maharashtra professional tax has a separate threshold for women. Check it before you deduct PT from a woman on the minimum wage.

Next change: the special allowance is reset from 1 January 2027. Orders often arrive weeks late, as the July 2026 order did on 5 August, so pay arrears from the start date.

5. Central Laws Applicable in Maharashtra

Employees' Provident Fund (EPF)

• Mandatory for establishments with 20+ employees
• Employer: 12% of basic + DA (3.67% EPF + 8.33% EPS)
• Employee: 12% of basic + DA
• Admin charges: 0.50% + EDLI 0.50%
• Filing: ECR on EPFO unified portal by 15th of following month

Employees' State Insurance (ESI)

• Applicable to employees earning ≤₹21,000/month (₹25,000 for disabled)
• Employer: 3.25% of gross wages
• Employee: 0.75% of gross wages
• Filing: Through ESIC portal by 15th of following month

Statutory bonus (Code on Wages 2019)

• Applies to establishments with 20 or more employees
• Employees earning up to ₹21,000/month are eligible
• Minimum bonus: 8.33% of wages earned, or ₹100, whichever is higher
• Maximum bonus: 20%
• Bonus is calculated on ₹7,000/month or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher, not on full salary
• Payment: within 8 months of the accounting year close, credited to the employee's bank account

Payment of Gratuity Act

• Applicable to establishments with 10+ employees
• Payable after 5 years of continuous service
• Formula: (Last drawn salary × 15 × years of service) / 26
• Maximum limit: ₹20,00,000

Work out the amount with our gratuity calculator.

Leave and working hours under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act

The Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017 sets the minimum leave and working-hour rules for shops, offices and commercial establishments in Maharashtra. Your company leave policy can be more generous, never less.

What changed in October 2025: Maharashtra Ordinance No. VIII of 2025 (1 October 2025) raised the daily limit in section 12 from 9 to 10 hours, the continuous work before a break from 5 to 6 hours, the spread-over to 12 hours, the overtime cap from 125 to 144 hours in 3 months, and the registration threshold from 10 to 20 workers. The weekly limit stays at 48 hours. The ordinance did not change the "beyond 9 hours a day" wording of the overtime section, so check with your adviser how overtime between the 9th and 10th hour is treated. A Bill to make these changes permanent (L.A. Bill No. 89 of 2025) was introduced in December 2025. The official consolidated text of the Act as on 31 December 2025 still shows 10 workers and 9 hours, and we have not found a notified Act replacing the Ordinance, so confirm the position with your adviser before relying on the 20-worker threshold or the 10-hour day.

What Makes Maharashtra Compliance Different

Maharashtra isn't one compliance zone, it's several. A software company registered in Mumbai, a manufacturing unit in Pune's industrial belt, and a back-office operation in Nagpur all sit under the same state Acts, but the practical experience of staying compliant differs by city, by industry mix, and by how each municipal and district authority handles filings and inspections. Generic "Maharashtra rules" guidance misses this, here's what actually varies on the ground.

Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur: Different Compliance Realities

Mumbai is home to the largest concentration of corporate headquarters and financial services firms in the state, and consequently the busiest Professional Tax and Shops & Establishments filing volumes. Employers here deal with the Mumbai Labour Commissioner's office and MGSTD's Mumbai jurisdiction, both of which see high transaction volumes, filing accuracy and timeliness matter more here simply because scrutiny and query volumes are higher.

Pune carries a distinct profile shaped by its dense IT/ITES corridor alongside a large manufacturing and auto-ancillary base, often within the same industrial park. This mix means Pune employers frequently need to run two different compliance postures side by side: office-style Shops & Establishments compliance for tech and services staff, and factory-floor OSH Code obligations (working hours, safety, contract labour) for manufacturing employees, sometimes within the same company.

Nagpur and the Vidarbha region operate under the same state framework but with a different administrative rhythm, regional labour offices, lower filing volumes, and in practice, more room for local variation in how inspections and queries are handled compared to Mumbai or Pune. Companies expanding into Nagpur for cost or talent reasons should expect the compliance obligations to be identical on paper but the on-the-ground relationship with local authorities to matter more.

Marathi-Language Documentation Considerations

Certain statutory postings and employee-facing notices in Maharashtra are expected to be available in Marathi, alongside English or Hindi, particularly for establishments covered under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act. In practice this affects:

• Statutory notice boards: working hours, weekly holiday, and leave rules displayed at the workplace, where local offices often expect Marathi alongside English.
• Factory and safety signage: for manufacturing units under the OSH Code, safety instructions are more effective (and better received during inspections) when available in Marathi for shop-floor workers.
• Employee communication for a blue-collar or mixed workforce: appointment letters, now mandatory for every employee under the Industrial Relations Code, land better with factory and warehouse staff when a Marathi version accompanies the English original, even where not strictly mandated.

This is a practical, relationship-and-inspection consideration as much as a strict legal one, companies that get it right typically have smoother interactions with local labour offices, particularly outside Mumbai's more English-first corporate environment.

Maharashtra's Industrial and Services Mix

Few states combine Maharashtra's range of employer profiles under one compliance regime: global capability centres and IT services in Mumbai and Pune, heavy manufacturing and auto-ancillary units across the Pune-Aurangabad-Nashik belt, and a large MSME and trading base concentrated in and around Mumbai and Thane. Each profile leans on different parts of the same framework, a services company rarely touches OSH Code factory provisions, while a manufacturer rarely worries about IT-sector Shops Act relaxations that don't exist in Maharashtra the way they do in Karnataka.

The practical takeaway for HR teams: don't assume the compliance checklist that worked at your last Maharashtra employer applies unchanged at a company with a different industry mix, even within the same state.

Maharashtra Compliance Calendar

HRTailor's Mumbai-based team runs this calendar for clients across Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and the wider state, adapting the compliance posture to each employer's actual industry mix rather than applying one generic Maharashtra checklist. Talk to our compliance team →

Penalties for Non-Compliance in Maharashtra

How HRTailor Ensures Maharashtra Compliance

As a Mumbai-headquartered company, HRTailor has deep expertise in Maharashtra labour laws. Our compliance management includes:

• Automated compliance calendar with reminders for every filing deadline
• State-specific calculations: PT slabs, LWF contributions, leave provisions per Maharashtra rules
• Regular updates: We monitor Maharashtra government notifications for any law changes
• Audit-ready records: All challans, returns, and documentation maintained digitally
• Expert team: backed by 15+ years of HR services experience across our group

FAQs, Maharashtra Labour Compliance

Is Shops & Establishments registration mandatory in Maharashtra?

Yes, under the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 2017, every shop and commercial establishment must register online within 60 days of commencement. The registration is now valid for the lifetime of the establishment.

What are the LWF contribution rates in Maharashtra?

Employee contribution is ₹25 per half-year and employer contribution is ₹75 per half-year per employee. Contributions are due in June and December each year.

Are women exempt from Professional Tax in Maharashtra?

Women earning up to ₹25,000/month are exempt from Maharashtra Professional Tax. Women earning above ₹25,000/month are subject to the same PT slab as men, ₹200/month (₹300 in February).

What is the minimum bonus in Maharashtra?

Under section 26 of the Code on Wages 2019, the minimum bonus is 8.33% of wages earned or ₹100, whichever is higher. Employees earning up to ₹21,000 a month are eligible, and the bonus is calculated on ₹7,000 a month or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is higher. This applies to establishments with 20 or more workers in Maharashtra.

How can HRTailor help with Maharashtra compliance?

HRTailor manages end-to-end Maharashtra compliance, from Shops Act registration to monthly PF/ESIC/PT filing, quarterly TDS returns, annual bonus computation, and full audit support. Our automated systems ensure zero missed deadlines.

When do the new labour codes apply in Maharashtra?

The four Labour Codes have applied across India since 21 November 2025. Each state also notifies its own rules under the Codes, so Maharashtra employers must follow both the Codes and the state rules as they are notified. HRTailor tracks every Maharashtra notification and updates your compliance as rules change.

When is Maharashtra LWF contribution due?

Maharashtra Labour Welfare Fund is paid every half year. The employee and employer shares are deducted in June and December and are due by 30 June and 31 December. HRTailor deducts and pays MLWF on time as part of payroll.

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