As per a case study by Swathi Shivanand of the Alternative Law Forum, the state government's failure to protect labor rights and enforce existing provisions have left more than 1,000 workers from a garment factory in Karnataka jobless as its illegal shutdown led to thousands of employees being forced to resign. The case study, titled 'Laid-off During the Pandemic' accuses the government of failing at multiple levels, starting from its complicity in keeping wages low at Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 per month, even as it offered incentives to companies, says a Deccan Herald report.

In May, the factory decided to shut down without giving prior notification employees as mandated by the Industrial Disputes Act. Over the course of the next two months, it decided to break the Garment and Textile Workers Union (GATWU) and also tried to prevent them from protesting on the premises of factory by filing an injunction.

The government officials, however, failed to see through the company's act of forcing workers to resign. Only the employees who withstood the threats and sat on 50-day protest demanding the reopening of the factory saw some success in terms of better compensation package by company, whose illegalities remained unquestioned.

The study recommended the government to introduce counselling services in garment factories to make mental health care a priority and spread awareness on their rights.

It also called for strengthening of the labor departments, to enable inspections and examine legalities of factory closures besides upward revision of minimum wages to reflect the new uncertainties and risks taken by workers.