Explain the
objective, scope and coverage of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. Describe the
rules for the Payment of Wages regarding the responsibility for payment. Does
this Act create the legal right of workers to receive their earned wages?
Ans
Applicability
i) Every person employed in any factory, upon any railway or through
subcontractor in a railway and a person employed in an industrial or other
establishment.
ii) The State Government may by notification extend the provisions to any class
of person employed in any establishment or class of establishments. Every person who is employed in any of the above mentioned establishments and who is drawing less than Rs. 1,600 per month.
ii) Preventing unauthorised deductions being made from wages and arbitrary fines.
Eligibility
Benefits : the Act
prescribes for
i) The regular and
timely payment of wages (on or before 7th day or 10th day after last day of the
wage period in respect of which the wages are payable)
Penal Provisions
Penalties are from Rs.
200-1000. Repeat offenses attract 1 to 6 months imprisonment and fine from Rs.
500-3000.
wage payments attract
penalty of Rs. 100 per day of delay.
Purpose of the Act
The main objective of
the Act is to avoid unnecessary delay in the payment of wages and to prevent
unauthorized deductions from the wages. Every person employed in any factory,
upon any railway or through sub-contractor in a railway and a person employed
in an industrial or other establishment.The State Government may by notification
extend the provisions to any class of persons employed in any establishment or
class of establishment. The benefit of the Act prescribes for the regular and
timely payment of wages (on or before 7th day or 10th day of after wage period
is greater than 1000 workers) and Preventing unauthorized deductions being made
from wages and arbitrary fines.
Salary statics
Wages are averaging
less than Rs. 6500.00 per month only are covered or protected by the Act by the
amendment in 2005 by {Section 1(6)}.Wages means contractual wages and not
overtime wages. They are not to be taken into account for deciding the
applicability of the Act in the context of section 1(6) of the Act. Wages must
be paid in current coin or currency notes or in both and not in kind. It is,
however, permissible for an employer to pay wages by cheque of by crediting
them in the bank account if so authorized in writing by an employed person.
Summary of the
provisions of the Act
The provisions of the
Act regarding the imposition of fines on the employed person are as follows
such as, The employer must exhibit on his premises a list of acts or omissions
for which fines can be imposed, Before imposing a fine on an employed person he
must be given an opportunity of showing cause against the fine, The amount of
fine must not exceed 3 percent of the wages, A fine cannot be imposed on an
employed person who is under the age of 15 years, A fine cannot be recovered by
installments or after 90 days from the day of the act or omission for which it is
imposed, The moneys realized from fines must be applied to purposes beneficial
to employed persons.
Subsection 8(3),
10(1-A) & Rule 15} deals with Any person desiring to impose a fine on an
employed person or to make a deduction for damage or loss shall explain
personally or in writing to the said person the act or omission, or damage or
loss in respect of which the fine or deduction is proposed to be imposed, and
the amount of fine or deduction, which it is proposed to impose, and shall hear
his explanation in the presence of at least one other person, or obtain it in
writing.
The procedure and
Competent authority which deals with employment matters
The procedure to employ
a person has to follow for claiming deducted or delayed wages.If contrary to
the provisions of the Act any deduction has been made from the wages of an
employed person or any payment of wages has been delayed, he has to make an
application for claiming the same to the Authority appointed under the Act.Such
application can be made by the employed person himself or a legal practitioner
or an official of a registered trade union.Such application has to be made
within a period of 12 months from the date on which the date on which the
deduction from the wages was made or from the date on which the payment of the
wages was due to be made.
There is a competent
Authority to entertain and decide an application for payment of subsistence
allowance. The subsistence allowance payable to an employee placed under
suspension pending Departmental Enquiry is covered within the definition of
wages given under Section 2(6) of the Act and, therefore, the Authority is
competent to entertain and decide an application for payment of subsistence
allowance.
The Authority under the
Payment of Wages Act is a Court of summary jurisdiction having powers to deal
with the simple matter of delay in payment of wages or deduction from wages. It
is not within the competence of the Authority to decide the question of the
status of an employed person. The matter is a complicated question of law as
also of fact. There is an agreement between an employer and his employees
authorizing the deduction of union subscription from the salaries of the
employer null and void under Section 23 of the Act, Such agreement being
beneficial and advantageous to the employees is not null and void under Section
23 of the Act.
Employer's duty
Employer's required to
display the abstracts of the Act in his factory or establishment. Every
employer must display in his factory or establishment a notice containing the
abstracts of the Act and the rules made thereunder in English and also in the
language understood by the majority or the persons.
Conclusion
The Payment wages act is a regulation drawn up to protect
the employee’s rights from being infringed by the employer. The employee should
be paid on time and should not be harassed against anything during the
employment. It has however given a lot of protections to employees and will
continue to do so in the future as well.
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