How it works

WorkLex reads India's Labour Codes. It explains what the loaded Codes and Central Rules say, cites the sections it used, and works out amounts for gratuity, final settlement, notice pay and wages in tested code. It is a project, not a legal service.

Retrieval

Your question is turned into a vector and matched against 660 chunks from three Codes (Wages 2019, Social Security 2020, Industrial Relations 2020) and the 2026 Central Rules. A keyword index and a blended ranking were tested too, but plain vector search ranked the right section first more often, so the agent uses vector search only (numbers are on the Evaluation page). If the best score is very low, the search reports no match; that threshold cannot separate out-of-scope questions, so refusals mostly come from the model's instructions.

The agent

A hand-written loop of up to eight model calls per question. The model can search the law, fetch a section, run a calculator, save facts you stated to a case file, or ask you for something it needs. Each tool call is checked and timed, and the steps are shown under every answer in "How this was worked out".

Calculators

Every rupee figure comes from Python code that reads one rules_config.json. Each rule has a verified flag; the gratuity ceiling of Rs 20 lakh was checked against the Ministry of Labour's published FAQ. The assumptions behind a result are listed with it. Borderline cases are shown, not hidden: between 4 years 8 months and 5 years of service the strict result is shown together with the amount if the 240-day rule applies, which is contested.

The guard

After the model answers, plain code checks it. Every cited section must have been retrieved in the same turn. Any figure of Rs 1,000 or more must come from a calculator, your own message, or the retrieved law text. Dates and reasons for leaving that the model invented are rejected. If the question needs a calculator and none ran, the model is sent back once to run it. A failed check gets one repair attempt, then a plain fallback.

Saved answers

The six starter questions have stored answers made by running the agent beforehand. They appear, clearly labelled, only if the live model is unavailable or the daily limit has been reached.

What is covered

  • Explanations from the loaded text: the Code on Wages 2019, the Code on Social Security 2020, the Industrial Relations Code 2020 and the 2026 Central Rules, for example retrenchment and lay-off compensation, strikes, maternity benefit, overtime, deductions, minimum wage rules, payment timelines and claims.
  • Calculations: gratuity, final settlement (gratuity plus unpaid salary, less or plus notice pay), pay for short notice, the 50 percent rule in the wage definition, and length of service.

What is not covered

  • The Occupational Safety Code, and any state law or state rate schedule, such as Shops and Establishments Acts and state minimum wage tables.
  • Income tax, government employees' service rules, and court strategy.
  • Anything the loaded text does not answer: the agent should say so, not guess.

Limitations

  • The guard checks that a cited section was retrieved, not that it supports the claim. Open the section and read it.
  • The number check ignores amounts under Rs 1,000 and amounts written in words, and it accepts numbers you typed yourself.
  • The model sometimes adds statements about your situation that you did not give (for example "no other allowances"). These are not checked.
  • The 240-day reading for 4 years 8 months to 5 years, and any one-year minimum for fixed-term employees, are not verified under the Code.
  • Whether an employer may recover unserved notice pay from final dues is not verified. The calculator treats it as owed by the employee only on resignation and says so.
  • The Rules PDFs contained form fields that the parser read as rules. Short ones are dropped at search time.
  • This demo uses a free-tier AI model, and inputs may be used by the provider to improve its products. Please do not enter real personal details.

Not legal advice.