Seminar on New Wage Code 2019
by Shrutee K/DNS
Speaking at the seminar, Adv.
Sandeep Puri, Partner, Sandeep Puri
Associates & Advocates and Chairman and IMC’s Labour Laws and People
Management Committee welcomed the
enactment of the new Bill at the interactive discussion on the newly passed
Code of Wages Bill 2019 organised by IMC Chamber of Commerce & Industry on
Thursday, September 19, 2019.
Mr. Puri said the Bill passed in July
2019 will herald a new milestone benefiting the 50 crore workers in the
unorganised sector. The Code which has subsumed the four prevailing labour
welfare Acts, viz., Payment of wages Act, Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Bonus
Act and the Equal Renumeration Act, now covers 100% workers, has been
simplified and rationalized compared to earlier Acts.
Mr Puri dealt in detail the various definitions
and changes made in the new Bill when compared with the earlier four Acts. One
of the major developments has been the
change of definition of Worker, which now includes all employees. It has also
brought in the sales promotion professionals, and contractors working for any
state or central govt or body, for the first
time under the ambit of the new Bill.
A simplified revised definition of minimum
wage, which hitherto was subject to judicial interpretation in every case of
suit filing, will now include Basic +DA+
Retention Allowance, and 50% of Basic +
DA would be used for handling all calculations. The new Code also clarifies the
definition of Overtime, which would now be twice of wages.
In the new set up, minimum wages will
be paid on geographical regional basis depending on the growth and development
status of the region.
Coupled with it would be the fixation
of minimum wages based on the skills, which have been categorised on easy to
comprehend parameters. All these measures will introduce a spirit of
competetion between regions and upgradation of skills of workers. Adv Puri said
he was happy to note that the Code has a clarifed and arrived at a uniform date
of 1st April as the start of accounting year system, as against the
earlier period in which the accounting year varied from company to company
depending, on their accounting
year. The Bill also has put in
place the system of digitised inspection through an App based computerised
inspection scheme. This would ensure transparency while complying with the
provisions of the new Bill and also make more accountability oriented.
About IMC; Set up
in 1907, IMC is an apex Chamber of trade & commerce with headquarter in
Mumbai. It has about 2700 direct members, comprising a cross section of the
business community, including public and private limited companies and over 215
trade and industry associations through which the Chamber reaches out to over
2,50,000 business establishments in the country. IMC is the first Chamber in
India to get ISO 9002-2000 certification which has since been upgraded to ISO
9001: 2008. IMC is the only business Chamber in India where, the Father of the
Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, was associated as an honorary member.
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