Labour and Employment

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment Practice

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment practice is widely regarded as one of the most comprehensive in India. We are a trusted advisor to clients across sectors — including several Fortune 500 companies — who rely on our deep expertise and experience to navigate complex employment issues, workplace disputes, policy implementation, and a rapidly evolving regulatory environment.

Consistently ranked among India’s top employment law practices by leading legal directories such as Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, IBLJ, IDEX, Asialaw, Asian Legal Business, and Who’s Who Legal, our team is recognised for its practical, business-aligned advice and attention to detail across all aspects of employment law.

Our practice supports clients across a broad range of industries, including IT and ITES, banking and financial services, fintech, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and more.

Our Areas of Expertise

We offer end-to-end labour law advisory across the entire employment lifecycle, including:

• Employee compensation and benefits structuring
• Retention strategies and bespoke remuneration models
• Compliance with social security, wage, and leave regulations in India
• Senior leadership hiring, exits, and separation strategies
• Employment due diligence and workforce transition in M&A
• Right-sizing exercises, business closures, and reorganisations
• Drafting and structuring Indian employment contracts and engagement models
• Engagement of contract and contingent workforce
• Exit documentation and enforcement of restrictive covenants
• Employee handbooks, workplace policies, and statutory training
• Handling disciplinary matters, workplace misconduct, and investigations
• Trade union negotiations, settlements, and industrial relations strategy
• Representation before regulatory authorities and compliance bodies
• Advisory on immigration, expatriate workforce, and mobility structures

We also conduct labour compliance audits and frequently assist in high-stakes disciplinary inquiries and white-collar employee investigations.

Industrial relations and Union Strategy

Trilegal is a leader in advising on industrial relations. We work closely with major manufacturing clients to manage union dynamics, negotiate settlements, and plan strategically for contentious issues such as closures, relocations, and workforce transitions.

POSH and Workplace Conduct Advisory

We have a market-leading practice in advising on matters related to prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace. Our team works with clients to manage sensitive complaints, conduct investigations, help in POSH policy drafting, and train Internal Committee (IC) members in line with industry best practices.

Engagement with Industry and Policy Makers

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment team actively collaborates with leading industry associations such as NASSCOM, CII, USIBC, UKIBC, and IFCCI. We also engage regularly with government stakeholders on policy and legislative developments, contributing our insights on employment reforms and regulatory trends.

Preparing for the New Labour Codes

India is set to implement the new Labour Codes, aimed at consolidating and streamlining the country’s labour laws. These upcoming changes will significantly impact employment contracts, workplace policies, and compliance requirements across sectors.

Key Deals

Our Labour and Employment team advised Blackstone on employment law aspects of the QCIL–Aster DM merger

Trilegal supported Blackstone in navigating complex employment law issues involved in the integration of a large, multi-state workforce as part of the proposed merger of Quality Care India Limited (QCIL) with Aster DM Healthcare.

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment experts advised Carlyle Group on workforce aspects of its automotive manufacturing platform acquisition

We assisted Carlyle Group on labour and employment matters in its acquisition of a majority stake in Roop Automotives Limited and Highway Industries Limited, supporting its strategy to establish a consolidated auto components manufacturing platform.

Our team supported Rebel Foods in a key investment deal involving Temasek’s affiliate.

We advised Rebel Foods and its founder in connection with investments via primary issuance of shares and acquisition of shares from existing shareholders of Rebel, by Temasek’s affiliate, Jongsong Investments Private Limited, by conducting a multi-faceted due diligence of Rebel’s operational framework, including aspects of employment.

Our Labour and Employment experts enabled Tishman Speyer to extend global equity benefits to Indian employees.

Trilegal advised Tishman Speyer Equity Participation Partners in structuring its global employee benefits scheme and implementing the same in order to offer the employees of its Indian affiliate the option to participate in and acquire an equity interest in the Scheme.

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment team advised a leading international airline and charter flight operator on complex workforce and industrial relations matters.

This included end-to-end support on employee exits (both contentious and non-contentious), trade union disputes, senior management compensation structuring, and internal policy design, alongside representation before the CGIT, Bombay High Court, and the Supreme Court.

Our team conducted a comprehensive workforce audit for a leading global technology company.

The audit evaluated compliance and potential risks across current workforce models, including preparedness for India’s upcoming labour codes.

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment experts advised Hyundai Motors (HMIL) on its acquisition of General Motors’ (GMI) Talegaon plant.

We assisted and advised HMIL, the largest passenger car exporter and the second largest car manufacturer in India, in the sale of General Motor India’s (GMI) manufacturing plant in Talegaon, Maharashtra to HMIL, amidst numerous on-going labour disputes

Our Labour and Employment team advised a senior executive of a global apparel brand in addressing sensitive workplace allegations.

The matter involved guiding the client through police complaints, media attention, and internal processes following claims of sexual harassment and discrimination.

Our team led a workplace investigation for a global capital goods manufacturer in response to whistleblower allegations.

We conducted an investigation for a global leader in the capital goods sector, specialising in manufacturing agricultural and construction equipment to examine the claims of conflict of interest, sexual harassment, and misconduct against senior leadership, including the Head of Trade Compliance and the India Legal Head.

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment experts advised a fast-growing Indian technology startup on the strategic exit of its CTO and co-founder.

We assisted a rapidly scaling Indian technology startup in the business of providing scalable, analytical, and ethical AI solutions, strategically and systematically navigate the exit of their Chief Technology Officer, who is also a co-founder, a significant shareholder, and a director on the board, without compromising on its highly critical intellectual property and proprietary information.

Trilegal’s Labour and Employment team assisted Orkla ASA and its subsidiary MTR Foods with the labour law diligence and advisory.

This assistance was provided during their acquisition of a 67.82% stake in Eastern Foods, which employed over 3000 across 12 manufacturing units.

Some of our other clients include:

Our Partners

• 

  Apeksha Mattoo

  Corporate, Labour and Employment

• 

  Atul Gupta

  Corporate, Labour and Employment

• 

  Kanishka Maggon

  Labour and Employment

• 

  Parvathy Tharamel

  Labour and Employment

• 

  Swarnima

  Corporate, Labour and Employment

• 

  Veena Gopalakrishnan

  Labour and Employment