Who is a Workman?

Tisa Padhy

‘Genius begins great works, labourer alone finishes them’

Joseph Joubert

It is rightly said no great human creation could be accomplished without the efforts of workmen. Defined in simple terms a workman is any person who offers their labour for any work. In the legal sphere, this term takes a more precise definition. Any person who is a workman is entitled to advance an industrial dispute. Sec 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter ‘Act’) defines a workman as “any person (including an apprentice) employed in any industry to do any manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory work, for hire or reward, terms of employment be express or implied and includes any such person who has been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in connection with, or as a consequence of the dispute.” However, the meaning of this term has been widely interpreted and broadened by the Supreme Court in several judgments. In the case of Arkal Govind Rajrao v. Ciba Geigy of India Ltd, In this case, the appellant who worked as a stenographer-cum-accountant and was later promoted as an assistant in the respondent company, was dismissed from work after some 10 years of service on the grounds that he was not a ‘workman’ under sec 2(s) of the Act. The Labour Court ruled in favour of the respondent stating that the appellant was an officer of the Covenanted Contractual Staff Cadre because along with clerical work he was also doing supervisory and administrative work and other miscellaneous works like checking bank reconciliation, etc. This led to an appeal before the Bombay High Court which was dismissed. The appellants then approached the Supreme Court. The apex court held that the appellant was a workman under the Act. It was established that while determining whether a person was a ‘workman’ or not, it is important to assess what are the primary duties performed by the person and what are the secondary ones. A person’s status must be decided based on the primary function only, the fact that the person also performs additional functions should not alter their position under the Act. In this case, the appellant performed supervisory functions along with his primary work of clerical nature. Based on his primary work, he was accorded the status of a ‘workman’ under the Act. This was a landmark decision that gave a clear meaning to the term workman and curbed the misuse of the provisions of the Act by the employers to their advantage. This case also reaffirmed that a person performing purely supervisory or managerial works cannot be considered as a workman under the Act. However, mere designation of a person to a supervisory position is not enough to exclude them from the ambit of ‘workman’; it is necessary to prove that the person actually performed supervisory or managerial work as held in the case of Delta Jute & Industries Ltd. Staff Association and v. State of West Bengal. Another category of work that is excluded from the ambit of ‘workman’ is the work involving creative or imaginative application of mind. This sort of work is not considered manual/clerical/operational work or technical work. However, the Supreme Court has been flexible with this exception. One such example is the case of Chandrasekhara Sharma v. C. Krishnaiah Chetty Jewellers Private Limited case, wherein the tactics used by a salesperson to convince customers was not considered creative work. Significantly, the Act does not differentiate on the basis of hours of work. Furthermore, there should be a necessary contractual relationship of master-servant between the employer and the person deemed as a ‘workman’.

Thus, the Supreme Court while interpreting the term ‘workman’ under the Act lays emphasis on the nature of the primary work undertaken by the person. Additional works performed by the person, even though of supervisory nature, cannot deprive them of getting the status of a ‘workman’ within the Act.

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