Last updated: July 2026. Reflects the four Labour Codes effective November 21, 2025, the Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, and the OSH Code 2020. Verify against official sources: Ministry of Labour & Employment · EPFO · ESIC. This article is for information only consult a labour law advisor for your specific situation.
Attendance compliance in India got significantly more demanding in 2026. The four Labour Codes that came into force on November 21, 2025, consolidated 29 older laws and changed how attendance records are required to be maintained, what forms to use, how long to keep them, and what happens if they’re missing when a labour inspector arrives.
Paper registers are no longer sufficient in many states. Digital records are now the expected standard. And the penalties for non-compliance up to ₹50,000 per violation under the Code on Wages, with the possibility of business shutdowns in serious cases make this a risk that HR teams cannot treat as a low-priority administrative task.
This guide covers what attendance compliance actually requires in 2026: which records you must keep, in what format, for how long, and what the consequences are for getting it wrong. We’ve also included a practical checklist and an honest note on how digital attendance systems like Waggex make compliance significantly easier to maintain.
The Legal Framework: Four Laws You Need to Know
Attendance compliance in India is governed by a combination of central codes and state-level acts. Here’s what each one covers:
- Code on Wages 2019 (effective November 2025)
This is the primary central law covering wages, overtime, and attendance records for most establishments. Under the Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, employers must maintain:
- Form IX: Attendance Register-cum-Muster Roll daily attendance of every employee with in-time and out-time
- Form I: Employee Register name, designation, date of joining, wage rate, PF/ESI numbers
- Form IV: Register of Wages, Overtime, Advances, Fines and Deductions
- Form V: Wage slips issued to every employee electronically or physically before or on payment day
Records under the Wage Code must be preserved for a minimum of 5 years from the date of the last entry.
- Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code 2020
The OSH Code replaces the Factories Act 1948 and 12 other sectoral laws. It sets the working hours framework that attendance records must reflect:
- Maximum working hours: 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week
- Spread-over: Up to 12 hours including rest intervals
- Overtime: Must be paid at double the ordinary rate. Maximum 50 hours per quarter without prior approval.
- Weekly off: Mandatory one full rest day per week
- Digital records: The OSH Code explicitly permits and in many state notifications now requires digital maintenance of all attendance, wage, and safety registers
- Women on night shifts: Transport, consent, and safety provisions must be documented for women employees working between 7 PM and 6 AM
- Industrial Relations Code 2020
Relevant to attendance compliance in two ways: Standing Orders (mandatory for establishments with 300 or more workers) must include defined attendance rules, late mark policies, and termination procedures. And the two-working-day final settlement rule means accurate attendance and leave records must be immediately available when an employee exits not reconstructed from memory.
- State Shops and Establishments Acts
These haven’t been repealed by the central codes they continue to govern commercial establishments (offices, retail, IT companies) in each state. Leave entitlements, working hours for specific establishment types, and registration requirements all vary by state. The Shops Act of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and other states each has its own specific attendance-related provisions that apply alongside the central codes.
| Important: The codes apply on top of state law, not instead of it The four Labour Codes are central legislation, but state-specific Shops and Establishments Acts continue to apply to commercial establishments. An IT company in Bengaluru must comply with both the central Code on Wages and the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act. Always verify which state-specific requirements apply to your establishment type and location. |
What Attendance Records You Must Maintain
Here’s the complete picture of what’s required, mapped to the relevant form numbers.
| Register / Form | Form No. | What It Must Contain | Who Needs It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attendance Register cum Muster Roll | Form IX (Wage Code) | Daily attendance of each employee: name, date, in-time, out-time, shift | All establishments covered under the Code on Wages |
| Employee Register | Form I (Wage Code) | Name, designation, date of joining, wage rate, PF/ESI numbers | All establishments |
| Register of Wages, Overtime, Fines and Deductions | Form IV (Wage Code) | Wages paid, overtime hours and rate, fines, deductions | All establishments |
| Wage Slip | Form V (Wage Code) | Itemised payslip issued to employee before or on payment day | All employers electronic or physical |
| Leave Register | State-specific | Type of leave, days taken, balance, approval details | All establishments state S&E Acts |
| Overtime Register | Form T / state equivalent | Employee name, date, hours of overtime, rate paid, total | Factories and establishments with OT workers |
| Accident Register | Form 36 / state equivalent | Details of any workplace accidents or injuries | Factories and higher-risk establishments |
| Contract Labour Register | Separate register | Contractor name, labour deployed, wages paid, attendance | Establishments engaging contract workers |
Form numbers under the Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026 are for central-law establishments. State-specific Shops Acts may use different form numbers check your state’s applicable forms. Sources: Code on Wages (Central) Rules 2026, OSH Code 2020, Ministry of Labour & Employment.
Working Hours Limits What Attendance Records Must Reflect
Your attendance records need to be consistent with legal working hour limits. An inspector checking your records will cross-reference daily hours against these limits:
- Factories (under OSH Code): 9 hours per day maximum, 48 hours per week. Spread over maximum 10.5 hours including rest.
- Commercial establishments (Shops Acts): Varies by state typically 8–10 hours per day including rest, 48 hours per week. Maharashtra 2025 amendment allows 10-hour days (including rest) with 48-hour weekly cap.
- IT/ITeS (most states): 9 hours per day with mandatory rest of 30 minutes after 5 hours of continuous work. Maximum 48 hours per week.
- Overtime threshold: Any hours beyond the daily/weekly limits must be recorded as overtime and compensated at double the ordinary rate.
- Overtime cap: Maximum 50 hours per quarter without prior approval under the OSH Code. Factories: check state-specific rules.
| The compliance risk most businesses miss: An employee who regularly works 10-hour days without overtime being recorded is an attendance record that doesn’t match reality. If a labour inspector pulls your attendance register and compares it to actual departure times, discrepancies trigger investigation. Accurate time-in and time-out records not just presence/absence are what compliance requires. |
The Shift to Digital Records What It Means in Practice
This is the most significant practical change from the new Labour Codes. Paper attendance registers are no longer compliant in several states, and across all jurisdictions, digital records are now the preferred format for labour inspections. Under Section 123 of the Code on Social Security 2020 and Rule 54 of the SS Rules 2025, compliance has moved to electronic returns and standardised digital registers.
What “digital” means in this context is more specific than just an Excel file:
- Tamper-proof. Records should not be easily editable after the fact. A biometric or GPS-verified attendance system creates records that can demonstrate their own integrity unlike a spreadsheet where any cell can be changed.
- Timestamped and auditable. Every entry should have a timestamp. Every change should have a log. Labour inspectors increasingly expect records that can show when data was entered, not just what the data says.
- Producible on demand. “Available for inspection at any time during working hours” is the standard. Digital records stored in a cloud HRMS can be produced immediately printed on demand or shared digitally during an inspection.
- Covering in/out times, not just presence. A checkbox saying ‘present’ is not sufficient. The record needs to show check-in time and check-out time for each employee each day.
Leave Compliance That Attendance Records Must Support
Attendance and leave are inseparable from a compliance perspective. The leave register must reconcile with the attendance register if an employee is marked absent on days they took approved leave, both records must show this consistently.
- Earned leave eligibility: One day per 20 days worked after 180 days of service in a year reduced from 240 days under the new OSH Code. This calculation must come from attendance data.
- Maximum carry-forward: 30 days. Leave beyond 30 days carried forward can be encashed. Records must track the balance accurately.
- Maternity leave: 26 weeks fully paid for eligible women employees. Must be documented in the leave register with start and end dates. Employer liable for full pay during this period.
- Compensatory off: If an employee works on their mandatory weekly off, they are entitled to comp-off. This must be recorded earned date, taken date, any expiry.
- Leave without pay: Any absence beyond leave balance should be marked as LWP/LOP, and the deduction should be reflected in the wage register and payslip.
We’ve covered the full landscape of leave types and their statutory requirements in our All Types of Leaves in Corporate India – Complete Guide (2026).
Contract and Gig Workers The Compliance Gap Most Businesses Have
Under the new Labour Codes, principal employers are jointly liable for ensuring that contract labour records meet the same standards as direct employee records. If a contractor you’ve engaged doesn’t maintain proper attendance records, that’s your compliance problem too not just the contractor’s.
- Contract labour register: Must be maintained separately, showing which contractor supplied how many workers, wages paid, and attendance records.
- Fixed-term employees: Under the Industrial Relations Code, fixed-term workers are now entitled to the same leave benefits and protections as permanent employees. Their attendance records cannot be maintained differently.
- Gig workers: The Code on Social Security formally recognises gig and platform workers. If your business engages gig workers in notified categories, check whether social security provisions apply which would require maintaining records of their working hours.
What Happens If You Don’t Comply
The penalties under the new Labour Codes are significantly higher than under the laws they replaced. This isn’t theoretical labour inspections in 2026 increasingly use data analytics to flag delayed filings and missing registers across jurisdictions in real time.
| Violation | Penalty | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Failing to maintain attendance registers | Up to ₹50,000 per violation | Code on Wages / OSH Code 2020 |
| Not maintaining records in digital format (where required) | Audit liability; orders to comply; fines | State-specific rules under Labour Codes |
| Overtime unpaid or paid below double rate | Back payment + penalty up to ₹50,000 | Code on Wages 2019 |
| Records not available for labour inspection | Prosecution; fines; operations may be halted | OSH Code 2020 |
| Non-payment / short payment of wages | Fine + back payment; repeat = higher penalty | Code on Wages 2019 |
| Contract labour records not maintained by principal employer | Fines; joint liability with contractor | OSH Code / Contract Labour provisions |
| Construction sites BOCW Act non-compliance | Fine up to ₹2 lakh + imprisonment up to 3 months | Building and Other Construction Workers Act |
Penalty amounts are under the Code on Wages 2019 and OSH Code 2020 as applicable. State-specific Shops Acts may carry additional penalties. Always verify current amounts with official government sources.
Attendance Compliance Checklist for 2026
Here’s the practical checklist split into what’s mandatory for everyone and what’s additionally required where applicable.
✓ Must Have (Non-Negotiable)
| ✓ Also Required Where Applicable
|
How Waggex Helps You Stay Compliant Without Manual Work
Maintaining attendance compliance manually keeping multiple registers updated, ensuring records are available for inspection, reconciling leave and overtime with payroll is a significant administrative burden. Waggex automates the parts of this that should never be manual in the first place.
- Digital attendance records from day one. GPS-verified check-ins and FaceLens selfie attendance create timestamped, tamper-resistant records with in-time and out-time exactly what digital compliance requires.
- Attendance connected to leave and payroll. When a leave is approved, attendance updates automatically. When an absence is LWP, the deduction appears in payroll without manual calculation. The three registers attendance, leave, wages stay consistent because they share the same data.
- Overtime caught in real time. The system flags when an employee’s check-out goes past their shift’s overtime threshold so overtime is recorded as it happens, not reconstructed at month end from a supervisor’s notes.
- Leave register automatically maintained. Leave Management tracks every leave type earned, casual, sick, maternity, comp-off, LWP with approval timestamps, balance updates, and carry-forward calculations. The leave and attendance records are always in sync.
- Payroll compliance runs from verified attendance. PF, ESI, TDS, and Professional Tax all calculate from the same verified attendance data. Tax and Forms Management generates filing-ready outputs. Reminder Management alerts you before every statutory deadline.
- Records available on demand. Attendance records for any period, any employee, any location available immediately from the dashboard. If a labour inspector arrives, you’re not scrambling through files.
For a full picture of what payroll compliance requires alongside attendance records, see our Payroll Compliance in India: Complete Guide (2026).
The Bottom Line
Attendance compliance in 2026 is not the same as it was three years ago. Paper registers, disconnected spreadsheets, and manual reconciliation are no longer adequate both because the legal standard has moved and because the inspection infrastructure has become more sophisticated about catching gaps.
What you need is simple in principle: accurate records of who worked, when they worked, and how many hours maintained in a tamper-resistant digital format, available for inspection immediately, preserved for five years, and reconciled with wages, leave, and overtime. The compliance failure almost never happens because someone didn’t know the rules. It happens because the systems weren’t set up to make compliance the natural output of running the business.
If you want to see how Waggex makes this the automatic result of how your team checks in every day, our free trial gives full access attendance, leave, payroll, compliance reminders, no credit card, setup in under a day.