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Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 · Chapter VA: Lay-Off and Retrenchment

Section 25H: Re-employment of retrenched workmen

The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 was repealed and replaced by the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 from 21 November 2025. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.

In plain words

If an employer who retrenched workmen later hires again, it must give the retrenched workmen who are citizens of India a chance to apply, and they get preference over others.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓

Official text

Where any workmen are retrenched, and the employer proposes to take into his employ any persons, he shall, in such manner as may be prescribed, give an opportunity [to the retrenched workmen who are citizens of India to offer themselves for re-employment and such retrenched workman] who offer themselves for re-employment shall have preference over other persons.

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Understanding this section

Section 25H gives retrenched workmen a right of preference when the employer later proposes to hire. The employer must give them an opportunity, in the prescribed manner, to offer themselves for re-employment, and those who do have preference over other persons.

Who can claim it

The section speaks of workmen who are retrenched, and retrenchment has the wide meaning in section 2(oo). The Supreme Court has held that the right is not limited to workmen who completed one year of continuous service, though those covered by section 25F get priority over those who are not.

The procedure is in the rules: the employer notifies vacancies to retrenched workmen eligible under the seniority list. A workman whose engagement ended for a reason outside retrenchment, such as expiry of a genuine fixed term contract, cannot rely on this section.

Key Supreme Court rulings

  • Central Bank of India v. S. Satyam 1996 INSC 812

    Section 25H benefits all retrenched workmen and is not confined to those covered by section 25F read with section 25B, though the latter have priority in re-employment.

  • Regional Manager, SBI v. Mahatma Mishra 2006 INSC 773

    A casual worker engaged for a fixed period whose services ended after 88 days was not entitled to relief under section 25H.

Common mistakes

  • Applying section 25H where the termination was not a retrenchment.
  • Ignoring the rules that set out how the opportunity must be given.

Read with: Section 25G Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, Section 25F Industrial Disputes Act, 1947

Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.

Supreme Court judgments citing the section 25H