Chapter VII WAGES

Every employer shall be responsible for the payment to persons employed by him of all wages and sums required to be paid under this act.

1) Every employer shall fix periods (in this Act referred to as wage periods) in respect of which such wages shall be payable. 2) No wage period shall exceed one month.

Where any person employed in any establishment is required to work overtime, he shall be entitled, in respect of such overtime work, to wages at twice the ordinary rate of wages. Explanation—For the purpose of this section, the expression “ordinary rate of wages” shall mean such rate of wages as may be calculated in the manner prescribed.

1) The wages of every person employed shall be paid before the expiry of the fifth day after the last day of the wage period in respect of which the wages are payable. 2) Where the employment of any person is terminated by or on behalf of the employer, the wages earned by such person shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day from the day on which his employment is terminated. 3) The State Government may, by general or special order, exempt an employer from the operation of this section in respect of the wages of any person employed or class of persons employed, to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order. 4) All payments of wages shall be made on a working day.

All wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or in both.

1) The wages of a person employed shall be paid to him without deductions of any kind except those authorised by or under this Act. Explanation—Every payment made by a person employed to the employer shall, for the purpose of this Act, be deemed to be a deduction from wages. 2) Deduction from the wages of a person employed shall be made only in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and may be of the following kinds only, namely: (a) fines; (b) deductions for absence from duty; (c) deductions for damage to, or loss of, goods expressly entrusted to the employed person for custody, or for loss of money for which he is required to account, where such damage or loss is directly attributable to his neglect or default; (d) deductions for house accommodation supplied by the employer; (e) deductions for such amenities and services supplied by the employer as the State Government may, by general or special order, authorise; (f) deductions for recovery of advances or for adjustment of overpayments of wages; (g) deductions of income-tax payable by the employed person; (h) deductions required to be made by order of a Court or other authority competent to make such order;

(1) No fine shall be imposed on any person employed save in respect of such acts and omissions on his part as the employer, with the previous approval of the State Government or of the prescribed authority, may have specified by notice under sub-section (2). (2) A notice specifying such acts and omissions shall be exhibited in the prescribed manner on the premises in which the employment is carried on. (3) No fine shall be imposed on any person employed until he has been given an opportunity of showing cause against the fine, or otherwise than in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed for the imposition of fines. (4) The total amount of fine which may be imposed in any one wage period on any person employed shall not exceed an amount equal to half an anna in the rupee of the wages payable to him in respect of that wage period. (5) No fine shall be imposed on any person employed who has not completed fifteenth year. (6) No fine imposed on any person employed shall be recovered from him after the expiry of sixty days from the day on which it was imposed. (7) Every fine shall be deemed to have been imposed on the day of the act or omission in respect of which it was imposed. (8) All fines and realizations thereof shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the employer in such form as may be prescribed; and all such realization shall be applied only to such purposes beneficial to the persons employed in the establishment as are approved by the prescribed authority. Explanation—When the persons employed are part only of a staff employed under the same management, all such realizations may be credited to a common fund maintained for the staff as a whole, provided that the fund shall be applied only to such purposes as are approved by the prescribed authority.

(1) Deductions may be under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 34 only on account of the absence of an employed person from the place or places where, by the terms of his employment, he is required to work, such absence being for the whole or any part of the period during which he is so required to work. (2) The amount of such deduction shall in no case bear to the wages payable to the employed person in respect of the wage period for which the deduction is made, a larger proportion than the period for which he was absent bears to the total period, within such wage period during which by the terms of his employment, he was required to work: Provided that, subject to any rules made in this behalf by the State Government, if ten or more employed persons acting in concert absent themselves without due notice (that is to say, without giving the notice which is required under the terms of their contract of employment) and without reasonable cause such deduction from any such person may include such amount not exceeding his wages for eight days as may by any such terms be due to the employer in lieu of due notice. Explanation—For the purposes of this section, an employed person shall be deemed to be absent from the place where he is required to work, if, although present in such place, he refuses, in pursuance of a stay-in-strike or for any other cause which is not reasonable in the circumstances, to carry out his work.

(1) A deduction under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 34 shall not exceed the amount of the damage or loss caused to the employer by the neglect or default of the person employed and shall not be made until the person employed has been given an opportunity of showing cause against the deduction, or otherwise than in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed for the making of such deductions. (2) All such deductions and all realizations there of shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the employer in such form as may be prescribed.

A deduction under clause (d) or clause (e) of sub section (2) of section 34 shall not be made from the wages of a person employed unless the house accommodation, amenity or service has been accepted by him, as a term of employment or otherwise, and such deduction shall not exceed an amount equivalent to the value of the house accommodation, amenity or service supplied and in the case of deduction under the said clause (e) shall be subject to such conditions as the State Government may impose.

Deductions under clause (f) of subsection (2) of section 34 shall be subject to the following conditions, namely:- (a) recovery of an advance of money given before employment began shall be made from the first payment of wages in respect of a complete wage period, but no recovery shall be made of such advances given for travelling expenses; (b) recovery of advances of wages not already earned shall be subject to any rules made by the State Government regulating the extent to which such advances may be given and the instalments by which they may be recovered.

Deductions under clauses (j) and (k) of sub-section (2) of section 34 shall be subject to such conditions as the State Government may impose.

(1) No employer shall dispense with the services of a person employed continuously for a period of not less than six months, except for a reasonable cause and without giving such person at least one months notice or wages in lieu of such notice, provided however, that such notice shall not be necessary where the services of such person are dispensed with on a charge of misconduct supported by satisfactory evidence recorded at an enquiry held for the purpose. (2) The person employed shall have a right to appeal to such authority and within such time as may be prescribed either on the ground that there was no reasonable cause for dispensing with his services or on the ground that he had not been guilty of misconduct as held by the employer. (2-A) The appellate authority may, if it considers that any document or the testimony of any person is relevant or necessary for the discharge of its duties under this Act as appellate authority, call for and inspect such document or summon and examine such person. For the aforesaid purposes, it shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908), in respect of the following matters, namely:- (i) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; (ii) compelling the production of documents; (iii) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses (2-B) The appellate authority, may, after giving notice in the prescribed manner to the employer and the person employed, dismiss the appeal or direct the reinstatement of the person employed, with or without wages for the period he was kept out of employment or direct payment of compensation without reinstatement or grant such other relief as it deems fit in the circumstances of the case. (3) The decision of the appellate authority shall be final and binding on both the employer and the person employed.