Difference between Lock-out and Lay-off

No	Lock out	Lay off
1	Lock out is an act on the part of the employer taken to coerce or pressurize the labor.	Lay-off is for trade reasons beyond the control of the employer, i.e, it is not an intentional act.
2	Definition :     Section 2(l) of the Industrial Dispute Act 1947 defines Lock-out “lockout means the temporary closing of a place of employment, of the suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him.	Definition :    Section 2(kkk) of the Industrial Dispute Act 1947 defines lay off “Lay off means the failure, refusal or inability of an employer on account of storage of coal, power or raw materials or the accumulation of stocks or the breakdown of machinery or natural calamity or for any other connected reason to give employment to a workman whose name is borne on the muster rolls of his industrial establishment and who has not been retrenched.
3	Lock out is due to an industrial dispute and continues during the period of dispute.	Lay-off is not concerned with a dispute with the workmen.