The Minimum Wages Act, 1948- The Provisions Applicable To All The Establishments – Hemant Deshpande

Hemant Deshpande
Labour Laws and Management Consultant

As the name indicates bare minimum amount of an income a person needs to leave in cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur etc. (A continuous flow of income on monthly basis it is termed as minimum wages or salary as per the labor laws). These are declared by the state Government on regular intervals i.e. for the period of January to June and July to December. It is based on the category of the City i.e. Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D.

As mentioned Class A cities are like Mumbai here the minimum Wages rate defined by the Government are different than other cities.

Minimum Wages rates applicable are declared by the Government by specific circular/Gazette and those can be seen in Labour Commissioner’s Office also on the website of Government and lawyer’s forum, C.A. Club etc.

While calculating Minimum wages Basic and Special Allowance are considered by the Government without any deductions like Profession Tax, Income Tax etc. Basic + Special Allowance =Minimum Wages. One more motive behind defining minimum wages is to have socio-economical balance in the state. Minimum Wages is the amount one must receive if he/she is delivering duties towards the monthly work assigned by the Employer whether it is Restaurant, Trading Unit, Manufacturing Unit or so on.

Three categories are defined by the State Government to ascertain the minimum wages of the employees. Mainly these categories are based on the skill sets the person is having.

• The Employee, who do not posses any skill sets like education, technical expertise then he is treated as Unskilled. Few Examples:- helper who helps the technician to do his job or an Office Boy who works in any office or establishment and does mopping, cleaning activities.

• The Employee who possess some skill sets or who has partial knowledge to handle technical matters and who can read, write, communicate properly is considered as Semi Skilled. Few Examples are Fitter’s in manufacturing industry or nurses in hospitals who knows how to take care of patients as per the guidance of learned doctors.

• Skilled Employees are those who possess special qualifications like engineering graduates. These people have special skill sets as well as they have education relevant to the duties they perform. Naturally they are likely to get high amount of salary or wages on monthly basis.

• Minimum wages has to be declared by the employer in the monthly muster cum wage register so that at a single glance the Inspecting authority can make a judgment about the records maintained by the organization.

• It is also to be noted that in case any organization which gives less than minimum wages to the employees then it is termed as unfair wages as per the labour laws and the labour commissioner has a right to recover the shortfall from the employer and distribute to the employees who are exploited.

• It is also to be noted that the minimum wages are also crossed checked at the time of inspection carried out by ESI or Provident Fund Officials or Factory Inspectors.

• Minimum Wages may differ from state to state. E.G. The minimum wages applicable in Maharashtra may not be applicable in Gujarat at the same rate.