Payment of salaries to the employees amid Covid19
When the country is facing yet
another lockdown amid Covid19, the employees across various industries are
facing uncertainty as to whether they will be paid salaries for the month of
April 2020. Those who are lucky enough to work from home using mobile phones
and computers are likely to get full or most portion of their salaries. But, it
would not be the case with most of the sectors like manufacturing and service
sectors like Aviation, Hotel, etc. Despite the Central Government’s direction as
to payment of wages to employees, the uncertainty looms all over the country both
with employers and employees.
Central Government’s actions
to ensure payment of full wage during the lockdown
The Ministry of Labour and
Employment issued an advisory
to all Employers’ Association on 20.03.2020, through which it advised all the
Employers of Public/Private Establishments to extend their coordination to the
lockdown by not terminating their employees, particularly casual or contractual
workers from the job or reduce their wages. If any worker takes leave, he should be
deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages for this
period. Further, if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due
to COVID19, the employees of such a unit will be deemed to be on duty.
Followed by that the Ministry
of Home Affairs by exercising its power under Section 10(2)(l) of the Disaster
Management Act, through its order dated 29.03.2020, has directed the respective State/Union Territory Governments
and State/Union Territory Authorities to take necessary action and to issue
necessary orders to their District Magistrate/Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent
of Police/ Superintendent of Police /Deputy Commissioner of Police to take
actions against the employers, be it the industry or shops and commercial
establishments shall make payment of wages of their workers, at their
workplaces, on the due date without any deduction, for the period for which
their establishments are under closure during the lockdown.
The onus of implementation on the
State Governments and Union Territories
The above said advisory to
Employers’ Association and the formal direction from the Central Government to
the Union Territories and State Governments provides an assurance to the
working-class, but how far this is practical is yet to be seen in the coming days since
the onus of implementing the direction lies with the respective Union
Territories and State amid Covid19 lockdown, which now stand extended
for two more weeks from 04.05.2020.
It is to be seen who will look after the complaints of non-adherence of the direction of the Central Governments when the District Magistrates, Superintendent of Police /Deputy Commissioner of Police would be busy in their lockdown duty.
Unlike in Maharashtra, where
the StateLabour Commissioner has come up with circular directing all establishments
not to terminate or deduct wages of contract or temporary workers, no other state seems to have issued circular or notification expressing their intention
to implement the direction of the Central Government strictly.
What should the employee do?
There might be cases, where
even the employers are not aware of the Central Government’s direction with
respect to payment of salary for the lockdown period. In such a situation, the employees/worker can point out the above-said order of the Ministry of Home Affairs to their
employer.
Where the employer
deliberately violates the direction of Ministry of Home Affairs and fails to pay or deducts
wages for the period of lockdown, then one can file a complaint before the
respective authorities like respective District Magistrates/District
Collectors/ State Labour Commissioners where the establishment is situated. States
like Tamil Nadu are
having an online platform for addressing grievances. In the national capital
territory, the Government of New Delhi has come up
with email id and the contact number of Joint Labour Commissioner especially to deal with
complaints of workers during the lockdown period. The aggrieved employee
or contract worker or temporary worker can use those online and Tele mediums
for the redressal of their grievances.
#employer #employee #Covid19 #lockdown #salary #wages
