Chitransh Bhansali and Sohair Shamim Wani
The objective of minimum wages is to safeguard workers from receiving meagre compensation for their work. Minimum wages ensure that everyone receives a fair and equal of their labour. Even the Directive Principles of State Policy under Article 43 of the Constitution of India states that, “The State shall endeavour to secure by suitable legislation or economic organisation or in any other way to all workers, agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work, a living wage (emphasis added) conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities“.
However, the process for determining minimum wage is a complex process; To simplify this process, the 15th ILC suggested norms for fixing minimum wages based on a per person intake of 2,700 calories per day, 18 yards of clothing per year, minimum housing rent charged by the government for low-income groups, fuel and lighting expenses, and other miscellaneous items of expenditure. Also, it should comprise 20% of minimum wage and children’s education, medical requirement, minimum recreation including festivals/ceremonies and provision for old age, marriage etc. should further constitute 25% of the total minimum wage.
As most employees in the informal sector are prone to exploitation owing to illiteracy and lack of adequate bargaining power, it becomes the duty of the state governments to issue rules so that labour regulations and minimum wages can be enforced.
To ensure minimum wages, the Jharkhand Government on July 14, 2021, has passed the Code on Wages (Jharkhand) Rules, 2021. The Rules provide 9 Chapters further divided into 56 sections.
Some key features of the Rules provided are:
1. Manner of calculating the minimum rate of wages.
The minimum rate of wages shall be fixed on the day basis keeping in view the following criteria –
i. A standard working-class family includes spouse and two children apart from the earning worker an equivalent of three adult consumption units.
ii. A net intake of 2700 calories per day per consumption unit.
iii. 72 yards (66 meters) cloth per year per standard working class family.
iv. Housing rent expenditure to constitute 10 per cent. of food and clothing expenditure.
v. Fuel, electricity and other miscellaneous items of expenditure to constitute 20 percent of minimum wage.
vi. Expenditure for children education, medical requirement, recreation and expenditure on contingencies to constitute 25 percent of minimum wages; OR
(a) by the committee appointed under section 8 of the code on the basis of Consumer Price Index notified by Labour Bureau, Govt. Of India; or
(b) as the Advisory Board or the Committee may think fit and proper.
vii. When the rate of wages for a day is determined, then the amount is divided by eight to determine the rate of wages for an hour, and multiplied by twenty-six to determine the rate of wages for a month, with the factors of one-half and more than one-half being rounded to the next figure and the factors less than one-half being ignored.
2. Norms for fixation of minimum rate of wages.
The state government shall constitute a technical committee with its chairman named as Labour Commissioner, for the purpose of advising the state government in respect of skill categorization (unskilled, semi- skilled, skilled and highly skilled, modifying, deleting or adding any entry in the categorization of such occupation) and identify jobs/occupations in the state at the time it is being developed.
3. Time Interval for revision of dearness allowance –
To modify the dearness allowance payable to employees on the minimum wage, the cost-of-living allowance and the cash value of the concession in respect of necessary commodities at concession rate will be computed once before 1st April and 1st October each year.
4. Number of Hours of work which shall constitute a normal working day –
(i). “Nine hours” shall be the number of hours that make up a normal working day.
(ii). An employee’s working day must be structured in such a way that it must not exceed twelve hours on any one day, as well as any rest intervals.
5. Weekly day of rest –
Every week, every employee is entitled to one day of rest (hence referred to as ‘the rest day’), which is usually Sunday, but the employer may designate any other day of the week as the rest day for any employee.
6. Night shifts –
When an employee works a shift that lasts past midnight, then –
(i). A holiday for the whole day (a period of twenty-four consecutive hours) shall be given beginning from the time when his shift ends; and;
(ii). In such a circumstance, the following day is understood to be the twenty-four-hour period beginning when such shift finishes, and the hours after midnight during which such employee was at work are tallied towards the prior day.
7. Longer wage period –
The longer wage period for the purposes of minimum rate of wages shall be by the month.
CLL
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