Minimum wages

Wages is what workers get in return for their
labour for the employer. Indian law governing the employer-employee
relationship has laid down the minimum wage that has to be paid to
workers by the employer for various different types of work. This law is
called the Minimum Wages Act. According to it, irrespective of what the
employer wants to pay, he has to pay at least the amount of wages that
the government has fixed. He is free to pay more and if he is already
paying more for a particular work he has to continue to pay that higher
amount.

The government has interfered in this issue between the employer and
employee because in several cases workers are too poor to obtain a
decent wage from employers and have to take what is given. It is to
protect these kind of weak and vulnerable workers that government has
come in between and made minimum wage rules which the employer has to
obey. As to how much that minimum wage should be, the highest court in
India the Supreme Court has said that the wage should be more than
what is necessary for physical existence of the worker and his or her
family means . It should be enough to maintain his or her efficiency as a
worker.In case of non-payment, applications should be made to the
Labour Commissioner of Payment of Wages Act.

If an employment is notified under the Act apart from making
payment of a minimum wage mandatory several other
provisions beneficial to the workers apply:

Maximum number of hours of work is fixed :workers should only work for eight hours in a day.

If they work more than that they have to be paid an extra amount.
Extra payment over and above the fixed wage for Overtime.

Workers should be given one day holiday in every week they have worked.

The law which decides that minimum wages
should be paid, applies to only those kinds of workers whom the
government feel is in need of protection. The government adds the kinds
of work they do, whether it is for example domestic work to a list. If
more that one thousand workers are doing such kind of work, then the
government has to fix a minimum wage for workers doing that type of
work. Some times the government may fix a minimum wage for work in which
less than a thousand workers are employed. They have the freedom to
decide.

Re-narration by Amrapali in Simple English targeting India for this web page