Equal Pay for Equal Work: Equal Pay for Daily Wagers/Contract Labourers and Regular Employees

Equal Pay for Equal Work: Equal Pay for Daily Wagers/Contract Labourers and Regular Employees

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
RAJYA SABHA

STARRED QUESTION NO. 346
TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.03.2018

EQUAL PAY FOR DAILY WAGERS/CONTRACT LABOURERS AND REGULAR EMPLOYEES

346. DR. SATYANARAYAN JATIYA:
Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to
state:
(a)the policy of "equal pay for equal work" and the effective measures taken for the implementation of the same; and
(b)in reference to (a) above the measures taken to ensure equal payment to daily wagers and contract labourers employed in institutes, establishments and companies of Government and
private sector as is being given to regular employees employed there?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE(IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

(a) & (b): The principal of "equal pay for equal work" was examined and laid down by the Hon‟ble Supreme Court in the civil appeal number 213 of 2013. The issue before the Hon‟ble Supreme Court was as under:

"whether temporarily engaged employees (daily-wage employees, ad- appointees, employees appointed on casual basis, contractual employees and the like), are entitled to minimum of the regular pay-scale, alongwith dearness allowance (as revised from time to time) on account of their performing the same duties, which are discharged by those engaged on regular basis, against sanctioned posts"

The Hon‟ble Supreme Court held that:

"There can be no doubt, that the principle of "equal pay for equal work" would be applicable to all the concerned temporary employees, so as to vest in them the right to claim wages, at par with the minimum of the pay-scale of regularly engaged Government employees, holding the same post"

The above judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 26th October, 2016 covers various sets of temporarily engaged employees, viz. daily-wage employees, adappointees, employees appointed on casual basis, contractual employees etc. It is mandatory for the employer/principal employer to comply with the provisions of labour laws and apply the ratio laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court regarding "equal pay for equal work" while paying wages to its workers/labourers.

In so far as the contract labour is concerned, the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Central Rules, 1971 provides for wage parity as stipulated in rule 25(2)(v)(a) which is reproduced below:

"in cases where the workmen employed by the contractor perform the same or similar kind of work as the workmen directly employed by the principal employer of the establishment, the wage rates, holidays, hours of work and other conditions of service of the workmen of the contractor shall be the same as applicable to the workmen directly employed by the principal employer of the establishment on the same or similar kind of work"

Source: www.rajyasabga.nic.in

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Payment of Minimum Wages to Contract/Casual Employees

Ministry of Labour & Employment

Payment of Minimum Wages to Contract/Casual Employees

04 APR 2018

The basic rate of minimum wages for the scheduled employments in the Central sphere was last revised and notified on 19.01.2017. A component of minimum rates of wage, Variable Dearness Allowance (V.D.A.), was last revised on 01.10.2017.Rates fixed for the scheduled employments in the Central sphere are applicable to establishments under the authority of Central Government, railway administration, mines, oil-fields, major port or any corporation established by a Central Government. These rates are equally applicable to contract and casual labourers/worker. The implementation of the Act is done by the Centre as well as the States in respect of their respective jurisdiction. In the Central Sphere, the enforcement is secured through the Inspecting Officers of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) commonly designated as Central Industrial Relations Machinery (CIRM) across the Country for workers falling under the Scheduled Employment in the Central Sphere including CPSUs and Railways establishments through regular inspections. In case of non-compliance, penal provisions against the defaulting employers are invoked.This Ministry is in constant endeavor towards implementing the revised rates of minimum wages. As far as employees in Railway are concerned guidelines were issued in December, 2017 to Ministry of Railways/Railway Board. Ministry of Railways has also issued instructions to its Zonal Offices across the country for strict compliance of minimum wages in December, 2017.The data of inspections, amount of claims, action taken against defaulting employer under the Minimum Wage Act, 1948 in the Central Sphere for the last three years is at Annexure ‘A’.

Annexure ‘A’

Claims cases under Minimum Wages Act, 1948

Year	Claims			Amount
	B/F	Filed	Decided	Awarded	Recovered	Paid to Workers
2015-16	3672	743	1796	66654417	44128036	34879425
2016-17	2610	1198	1138	96684922	49485990	48540964
2017-18(upto Dec.,2017)	2617	1050	819	95757253	20697840	24866702

Minimum Wages Act, 1948

Sl.No.	Particulars	2015-16	2016-17	2017 -18(upto Dec,2017)
1.	No. of Inspections Conducted	9803	9151	7380
2.	No. of Irregularities Detected	75938	61689	62304
3.	No. of Irregularities Rectified	46467	53255	28884
4.	No. of Prosecutions Launched	1549	2321	1130
5.	No. of Convictions	1476	1951	1721

This information was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

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