21 days' notice before a change in pay, hours or leave
Owed to the workers affected, in any of eleven matters, before the change takes effect. No headcount threshold.
Source: Industrial Relations Code, 2020, s.40 and Third Schedule
Free Word file
Office Circular and Memo Format for Indian Employers
A circular, a memo, and the notices the labour codes name for hours, pay, shifts and stoppages, with the 21 days a change to pay, hours or leave needs first.
- Circular, memo and leave refusal formats
- Notice of change, shift and stoppage notices
- Which notice, which clause, which language
Instant download. No card needed.
Attendo presents
Office Circular and Memo Pack
For Indian employers
10
formats, circular to register
Attendo presents
What's inside
What is inside the pack
Ten formats. Check section 2 before you sign any circular.
Formats 01 and 02
Circular and memo
A numbered circular with a display record, and a memo with a signed receipt and what to do if someone refuses to take it.
Formats 03 and 04
Notice of change and shifts
Form-IV for a change in pay, hours or leave, and Form (i) for stopping or restarting a shift, each 21 days ahead.
Formats 05 to 07
Notices that stay up
Periods of work, a three-language board notice with the weekly rest day and pay day, and the fines notice.
Formats 08 to 10
Stoppage, leave, register
A stoppage notice with when it becomes a lay-off, paid in a factory, mine or plantation of 50 or more, a leave refusal memo and a register.
Sections 1 to 9
The rules behind them
Which paper you need, what applies at your size, the 21-day rule, and thirty-six citations.
Attendo
Book a Free Demo
One record for every branch
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) keeps attendance, shifts, leave and salary records for every branch in one account.
Why this matters
Why a circular can break the law
Because some circulars are really notices of change. Moving the shift start, cutting an allowance or stopping the staff bus all change a condition of service.
Section 40 of the Industrial Relations Code and its Third Schedule list eleven matters, from wages and hours to leave, shifts and customary perks, and bars a change in any of them until 21 days after notice to the workers affected. So a circular saying 'with immediate effect' on one of them is unlawful, whatever the headcount. The exceptions are narrow, one of them an emergency shift change made in consultation with the Grievance Redressal Committee.
The other half is what goes on the wall. Where standing orders apply, at 300 or more workers, the model standing orders name each notice: hours of work, holidays and pay days, wage rates, the wage period, shift changes and stoppages. Three of them go up in Hindi, English and the local language.
And a memo is not a formality. The standing orders treat a superior's order as normally in writing, so a spoken instruction is a weak footing if it ever comes to a charge. The fines notice works the same way: no notice of approved acts and omissions, no lawful fine.
The same pack serves a plant running three shifts, a hospital rostering nurses and a corporate office announcing a new working-hours policy: the 21 days and the register apply to all three.
Preview
Three notices a circular is not
Each has its own form, its own clock and its own place on the wall, and each is in the pack.
- A change in pay, hours or leave. Form-IV, or your State's version, to every worker affected, on the portal and at the main entrance, 21 days before.
- A shift stopped or restarted. Form (i), on the board and to each registered union, 21 days before.
- A change in the periods of work. With ten or more workers, the Inspector-cum-Facilitator is told before it happens, and not within a week of the last change.
| Notice | Schedule B | Schedule C | Language | Where | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hours of work | 4(1) | 4(1) | Hindi, English and local language | Board and portal | 06 |
| Wage rates | 6 | 6 | Hindi, English and local language | Board and website | 06 |
| Wage period and payment date | 12(7) | 13(7) | Hindi, English and local language | Board and portal | 06 |
| A stoppage of work | 21(2), 21(5) | 22(2), 22(5) | Not specified | Board or HR portal | 08 |
| Below 300 workers | Not binding: | good practice | s.28(1) |
Key stats
Three numbers behind a circular
3% of wages, the most all fines can take in a wage period
And only for acts and omissions approved in advance and on a notice, after a chance to show cause.
Source: Code on Wages, 2019, s.19(1) to (4)300 workers bring in the model standing orders
On any day of the preceding twelve months. Their notices then go up as they prescribe: the hours, wage rates and wage period in three languages.
Source: Industrial Relations Code, 2020, s.28(1)
Common mistakes
6 Circular and Memo Mistakes Indian Employers Make
'With immediate effect' on pay or hours
A change in a Third Schedule matter needs 21 days' notice first. Use Form-IV, not a circular.
Quietly withdrawing a perk
Stopping the bus or a customary gift is withdrawing a customary concession. It needs the same notice.
Hours and wages in English only
Where standing orders apply, those notices go up in Hindi, English and the local language.
Charging over a spoken order
A superior's order is normally in writing under the standing orders. Issue the memo before a show cause notice.
Fining without an approved notice
Only approved acts and omissions on display, never above 3% of wages, and each fine in the register of fines.
Refusing leave without a reason
The reasons go in writing, and refused annual leave carries forward without limit, as your leave policy should say.
Comparison
A circular template against this pack
A circular template
A letterhead and a subject
- 'With immediate effect'
- English only
- No statutory forms
- Spoken orders
- No proof it went up
Free either way
This pack
Ten formats, each on its rule
- The 21-day check first
- Three-language board notice
- Form-IV, Form (i), Form-XII
- Memo with a signed receipt
- A register for every notice
Check, then circulate
Check the eleven matters, pick the format, and log it in the register. For a festival holiday notice, there is a pack of its own.
FAQ
Common questions
Is this circular and memo pack really free? +
Yes, completely. No card and no trial. The form asks for your name, work email, phone and city, then the Word file downloads straight away. The Attendo team may follow up about payroll software, and you are free to say no thanks.
What is the difference between a circular and a memo? +
A circular tells everyone something, and goes on the notice board or the HR portal. A memo tells one person or one team to do something, and is handed over against a signed receipt. Where standing orders apply, a superior's order is normally in writing, so the memo is what makes it enforceable.
How much notice must I give before changing working hours or pay? +
Twenty-one days. Section 40 of the Industrial Relations Code bars a change in any of eleven matters, among them wages, allowances, hours, leave, shifts and customary perks, until 21 days after notice to the workers affected. It does not reach managers, or supervisors drawing wages over ₹18,000 a month.
Does a circular have to be in Hindi? +
Where standing orders apply, at 300 or more workers, the notices of hours of work, wage rates and the wage period go up in Hindi, English and the local language. Below that it is not required, but a notice staff cannot read is hard to rely on.
Can a circular be sent by email only? +
The standing orders accept an electronic notice board in place of the physical one, usually with the HR portal as well, and a notice of change must also be displayed at the main entrance. An email to staff is neither, so send it as an extra copy.
A
About Attendo
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) is payroll and attendance software used by 40,000+ businesses across manufacturing, corporate offices, retail, hospitals and education. General guidance, not legal advice. This pack is one of our HR templates and checklists, each built from the law rather than from other templates.
Attendo
Get the circular and memo pack
Ten formats, from the everyday circular to Form-IV, with the rules and thirty-six citations behind them, in Word. Free.
Book a Free Demo
Call: +91 72280 34343