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Contributed on May 18, 2020

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Orders and advisories related to payment of wages for the lock down period

Blog: NASSCOM Official Blog

Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order and the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE), has issued orders and advisories related on payment of wages for the lock down period, which has been challenged in Court.

Details of Govt Orders / Advisory

1. On 20^th March 2020, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment issued an advisory, advising public/private establishments, not to terminate employees and to consider employees were on duty if the establishment is not operational due to Covid-19 crisis. The advisory can be found here.

2. On 29^th March 2020, Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order regarding the implementation of lockdown. Clause iii of the order pertains to employers and is reproduced below. The order can be found here.

All the employers, be it in industry or in the shops and commercial establishments, shall make payment of wages of their workers, at their workplaces, on the due date, without any deduction for the period their establishments are under closure during the lockdown.

The order also stated that in case of violation of above, the State/UT governments shall take necessary action under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Petitions in the Supreme Court and developments.

Petitions were filed in Supreme Court from both sides – employers and employees – one challenging the legality of the orders and other asking for implementation of the same. The details of the various petitions and the developments are below.

1. Various parties ( Ficus Pax,  Ludhiana Hand Tools Association, etc) filed writ petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of these order/advisory. In total, separate but similar petitions were filed by 10 different parties.

• On 27^th April, while hearing the petition filed by Ficus Pax, the Supreme Court granted two weeks for the Central to file its reply. The order is here.

• Yesterday, (15^th May 2020) the Supreme Court while hearing the petition filed by Ludhiana Hand Tools Association, has ordered that no coercive action be taken for failing to comply with the MHA notification, till the Central Government files a reply. The Government is required to file its reply in a week. The order is here.

2. An employee association NITES, filed petition seeking directions of the Court to implement the above orders to ensure that establishments do not lay off employees or reduce salaries. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition on 15^th May 2020. The order is

These are important cases for the industry. The reply to be filed by the Government will provide a clue on the Government’s line of thinking on this issue.

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