THE MINIMUM WAGES
History of Minimum Wages
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- ILO Convention recommended machinery for fixing minimum wages.
- The Standing Labour Tripartite organization in 1943.
- On 13.04.1946 Dr. Ambedkar introduced minimum wages.
- On 15.03.1948 the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 passed.
OBJECTIVE:
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- To prevent the exploitation of the Employers (By fixing the statutory on the employer to pay wages).
- To bring the social justice.
- To enable the working class to have a minimum standard of life.
- To fix/revise the minimum rates of wages in the scheduled employment.
- To add any new employment in the schedule.
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Broad Features of the Act
- [Sec 3]: The Act lays down the principles for fixation of
- A minimum time rate of wages
- A minimum piece rate
- A guaranteed time rate
- An overtime rate for different occupations, localities or classes of work and for adolescents, children and apprentices
- [Sec 4]: The minimum wages may consist of
- A basic rate of wages and a cost of living allowances
- A basic rate of wages with or without the cost of living allowance and the cash value of concessions in respect of essential supplies at concessional rates
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Short Title and Extent [Sec. 1]
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- This Act, the Minimum Wages Act, extends to the whole of India
- This Act may be called the Minimum Wages Act, 1948
Who all are eligible
- Permanent employees
- Contract employees
- Casual workers
- People on probation get full salary instead of minimum wages
- Trainees get stipend and not minimum wages
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Wages [Sec. 2(h)]
- Minimum wages: all remuneration capable of being paid in money terms for work done, where terms of contract were fulfilled
- consist of Basic + Dearness Allowance + House Rent Allowance
- Every 5 years, basic rates of every state decided by Minimum Wages Committee
- Dearness Allowance changes every 6 months and is decided by Government
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Different Minimum Wages May Be Fixed By The Government For:
- Different employments (specified in the schedule)
- Different classes (e.g. skilled, semis skilled, etc.) of work in the same employments
- Adults, adolescents, children and apprentices
- Different localities
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Segregation
Minimum rates of wages may be fixed by reference to one of the following wage periods, namely:
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- By the hour
- By the day
- By the month
- By such other larger wage period as may be prescribed; and where such rates are fixed by the day or by the month, the manner of calculating wages for a month or for a day, as the case may be, may be indicated
Different Minimum Wages May Be Fixed By The Government consist of [Sec. 4]
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- Basic + Special Allowance (Which varies with the cost of living index)
- Basic + Cash value of concessions in respect of supplies of essential commodities, materials like food, clothes, etc
- An all inclusive rate which includes Basic + Cost of living Allowance + Cash value of concessional supply of materials
Fixing Minimum Rates of Wages [Sec. 5]
- Publish its proposals in the official gazette and consider comments from the affected parties
- Constitute committees/sub committees for the purpose.
- The committees/sub-committees and advisory boards constituted by the Government should have equal number of members of :
- Employers
- Employees, and
- Independent persons
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Fixation of minimum wages
Recommendation of Advisory Board for different categories [unskilled, skilled, Clerk, Supervisor]
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Publish recommendations in National Publication and invite comments/representations from Trade Unions
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Hearing of the Representatives etc
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Notification of Minimum wages
Advisory Board [Sec.7]
- Appointed by appropriate government
- To co-ordinate the work of committees and sub committees appointed under section 5
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Central Advisory Board
- To advise the Central and State Governments in fixation and revision of minimum rates of wages
- To co-ordinate the work of the Advisory Boards
Composition of Committees, etc. [Sec. 9]
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- Each of the committee, sub-committee and the Advisory Board shall consist of:
- persons to be nominated by the Government
- representing the employers and the employees in the scheduled employments who shall be equal in number and
- independent persons not exceeding one-third of its total number of members: one of such independent persons shall be appointed the Chairman by the appropriate Government
Correction of Errors [Sec. 10]
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- By appropriate Government at any time
- By notification in the Official Gazette
- Correct clerical or arithmetical mistakes or errors arising from and accidental slip or omission.
- Every such notification shall be placed before the Advisory Board for information
Wages in Kind [Sec. 11]
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- Minimum wages shall be paid in cash
- The appropriate govt. may authorize the provision of essential commodities at concessional rates
Payment of minimum rates of wages [Sec. 12]
- The Minimum Wages has to be paid without any deductions except Statutory Deductions.
- Payment of wages less than the minimum wages on the ground of less performance or output is illegal
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Normal working hours [Sec. 13]
For an Adult Worker working in any scheduled employment
- Number of Working Hours should not exceed 48 Hours in a week with one day Holiday
- The Daily Hours should not be more than 9 Hours with 1 Hour Rest
- Provision of Compensatory Holiday and Overtime Wages if working on Holiday
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Overtime wages [Sec. 14]
- If the person has worked for more than 48 hours in a week then, the excess hours worked will be treated as overtime
- Overtime wage rate will be twice of the normal wage rate
Wages for a person who has worked for less than normal working hours
- Employer could not provide the activities to the employee is entitled to receive full salary
- Employee has not worked due to his unwillingness the employee is not entitled to receive full salary
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Records to be maintained [sec. 18]
- The Registers should contain the following particulars-
- (i) particulars of employed persons
- (ii) the work performed by them
- (iii) the wages paid to them
- (iv) the receipts given by them
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Claims [Sec. 20]
- A Labour Commissioner or any other officer appointed authority is authorized to hear and decide claims regarding non-payment of minimum wages
- Any aggrieved person may apply to the authority for settling his claims within six months
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- 2009: Wage rates that were initially aligned to the minimum wages were fixed at a uniform wage
- 2015: From 1 July 2015 the National Floor Level was raised to Rs 160 per day.
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