Quality Bank Ltd. is a new private sector bank. It displayed some vacancies of Clerks, Supervisors and Managers in its website. In response to the advertisement the aspirants applied for the various posts according to th

CS Professional · Labour Laws and Practice · PYQS · December 2024
Quality Bank Ltd. is a new private sector bank. It displayed some vacancies of Clerks, Supervisors and Managers in its website. In response to the advertisement the aspirants applied for the various posts according to the required qualifications and experiences. Dinesh who applied for the post of clerk in the Bank got the job offer. Dinesh was given the appointment to join at its Barmer Branch. Since Dinesh was unemployed before joining this Bank, so he immediately joined without seeing the salary structure. After joining he realized that there is a big disparity between the salary structure of clerk and the officer. Dinesh was not getting the salary as per his expectation, so he made a complaint to the Government of Rajasthan against the Bank for exploitation of the clerical staff and not providing of adequate salary and requested for the revision of the salary under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. Pragati also received an appointment letter on 10th July, 2024 from Quality Bank Ltd. She was offered appointment for the post of Assistant Manager and was to report joining at the Bank Branch situated at Johari Bazar, Jaipur on or before the 15th July, 2024. Pragati approached the Branch Manager and showed her appointment letter. After the necessary formalities she joined the Bank on 14th July, 2024. On 2nd October, 2024 Pragati applied for the maternity leave. The Branch Manager amazed to receive the leave application on the ground of maternity since at the time of joining on 14th July, 2024 Pragati's medical/fitness report was not showing any sign of pregnancy. Pragati then informed to the Branch Manager that she became mother of twin babies on 2nd October, 2024 through surrogacy and both the babies have been handed over to her on this date by the surrogated mother. However, the Branch Manager was not convinced with the plea of Pragati and he refused to grant the maternity leave. But Pragati proceeded on the maternity leave. The Branch Manager treated the leave availed by Pragati as absence on duty and accordingly deducted the wages and extended her probation period. Pragati's husband is a pilot in True Aviation Company (TAC). The TAC runs flights in India's air space and connects link between the capital cities and other major cities of India. Aviation companies in order to cut the cost are adopting various measures including the salary cut and reduction in wages. The TAC also adopted these measures and for the FY 2022-23 the company decided not to pay any bonus to the ground staff and air staff including the pilots. Based on the given facts, answer the following questions: Whether the non-payment of bonus amounts to non-compliance of the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. Explain.

Answer & Explanation:

In terms of Section 2(vi) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 "wages" means all remuneration (whether by way of salary, allowances, or otherwise) expressed in terms of money or capable of being so expressed which would, if the terms of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable to a person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment, and includes- any remuneration payable under any award or settlement between the parties or order of a Court; any remuneration to which the person employed is entitled in respect of overtime work or holidays or any leave period; any additional remuneration payable under the terms of employment (whether called a bonus or by any other name); any sum which by reason of the termination of employment of the person employed is payable under any law, contract or instrument which provides for the payment of such sum, whether with or without deductions, but does not provide for the time within which the payment is to be made; any sum to which the person employed is entitled under any scheme framed under any law for the time being in force, but does not include - any bonus (whether under a scheme of profit sharing or otherwise) which does not form part of the remuneration payable under the terms of employment or which is not payable under any award or settlement between the parties or order of a Court; the value of any house-accommodation, or of the supply of light, water, medical attendance, or other amenity or of any service excluded from the computation of wages by a general or special order of appropriate Government; any contribution paid by the employer to any pension or provident fund, and the interest which may have accrued thereon; any travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession; any sum paid to the employed person to defray special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment; or any gratuity payable on the termination of employment in cases other than those specified in sub-clause (d). In the given case, the TAC has only cut the payment of the bonus. The bonus is not included in the wages. Hence the TAC has not violated any of the provisions of the Payment Wages Act, 1936.

Topics: Wages and Benefits

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