Employment matters in Karnataka now arrive with the speed of the platform economy and the texture of the older industrial law. A contract may be three pages long, drafted by a US firm, and governed by the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act of 1946. The two do not always agree.
What we open files for
- Wrongful termination — challenges to dismissal, charge sheet review, domestic enquiry conduct, reinstatement and back-wages.
- Salary & benefits — recovery of unpaid wages, gratuity, leave encashment, ESI/PF non-deposit.
- Moonlighting & non-compete — enforceability review, drafting clauses that survive Section 27 of the Contract Act.
- POSH — Internal Committee constitution, complaint handling, appellate work.
- Compliance for employers — Karnataka Shops & Establishments, Industrial Employment Standing Orders, Code on Wages.
What we will tell you on the first call
That non-compete clauses, post-employment, are largely unenforceable in India. That a moonlighting policy phrased as an absolute bar will not survive scrutiny. That a salary deduction without lawful basis under the Payment of Wages Act exposes the employer to a claim worth more than the deduction.
The most common employer mistake is treating the appointment letter as the operative document. The most common employee mistake is the same.
Recent matters
- Successful challenge to mid-quarter retrenchment of seventy software engineers — restored on terms before the Labour Court at Whitefield (2025).
- Defence of a moonlighting termination — settled at conciliation when the employer’s policy was found to predate the conduct it sought to prohibit (2025).
- POSH appellate work before the Karnataka High Court — quashing of an IC report on procedural grounds (2024).
How to instruct us
We do not run a free-helpline service. We do offer a fixed-fee first consultation: a thirty-minute call, after which we will tell you whether you have a case, what it is worth, and whether you should bring it. Email hello@bisanilegal.com with a one-paragraph summary and a copy of the operative document.