Page 292 - DMGT516_LABOUR_LEGISLATIONS

Unit 12: Payment of Wages Act, 1936

In pursuance of the recommendations of the Commission, the Payment of Wages Act, was Notes
passed in 1936, and it came into force on 28th March 1937. It has since then been amended several
times, and its latest amendment in 1982 extended its coverage by raising the wage limit from
1000 to 1600.

12.1 Object of the Act

The Act is a protective piece of legislation. It seeks to regulate the payment of wages of certain
class of workers employed in industry. The main object of the Act is to ensure to workers,
payment of their earned wages on due date without unauthorised deduction. In order to ensure
timely payment of wages, the Act regulates the manner of payment of wages at regular intervals.
It lays down permissible deductions to protect the employed persons against arbitrary or
unauthorised deductions being made from their wages.

12.1.1 Scope and Coverage

The Act applies to the whole of India. The Act applies to the payment of wages to persons
employed in any factory and to persons employed (other than in a factory) upon any railway by
a railway administration. In the latter case, it also applies to persons employed either directly or
through a contractor or by a person fulfilling a contract with a railway administration. The State
Government may after giving three months’ notice extend the provisions of the Act to any class
of persons employed in any industrial establishment specified by the Central Government and
State Governments. In the case of industrial establishments owned by the Central Government,
the notification can be issued with the concurrence of the Central Government. In some States
the Act has been extended to shops and establishments also. (Section 1).
The Act does not apply to persons whose wages exceed 1600 per month. This limit was raised
from 1000 by amending the Act in 1982. The need for amending the Act was felt, as a large
number of workers previously covered by the Act got excluded with the upward revision of pay
scales and increase in dearness and other allowances in recent years. The present limit of 1600
per month has again become? as with the increase in lends of wages. A very large number of
workers do not get the benefit of the Act.
The Act is also applicable to persons employed in coal mines and plantations, as well as
establishments in which work relating to the construction, development or maintenance of
building, roads, bridges, supply of water, or relating to operations connected with navigation,
irrigation or the supply of water, or relating to generation, transmission and distribution of
electricity, or other form of power is carried on.

12.1.2 Definitions (Sec. 2)

1. Employed Person: Employed person includes the legal representative of a deceased
employed person.
2. Employer: Employer includes the legal representative of deceased employer.
3. Industrial Establishment: It means any:
a) Tram-way service or motor transport engaged in carrying passengers and goods or
both by road for hire or reward;
b) Air transport service other than such service belonging to or exclusively employed
in the military, naval or Air Force of the Union, or the Civil Aviation Department of
the Government of India;

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 287