In another blow for the unpaid employees, Government now has withdrawn the wage protection clause, quoting that paying the employees during the lockdown irrespective of their presence at the workspace is not mandatory.
Last week, the Supreme Court had asked government not to take any coercive measure action against companies who are not paying wages during lockdown as per the home ministry order.
“Save as otherwise provided in the guidelines annexed to this order, all order issued by the NEC (national executive committee) under Section 10(2)(I) of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005, shall cease to have effect from 18.05.2020,” the home ministry guidelines issued on Sunday has mentioned. Though the order has mentioned various guidelines related to the lockdown, it has omitted the 29 March order related to wages.
The March 29 order invoking the same clause of the disaster management act 2005 had said: “All the employers, be it in the shops and commercial establishment, shall make payment of wages of their workers, at their workplace, on the due date, without any deduction, for the period their establishment are under closure during the lockdown.”
During a meeting with labour secretary earlier this month, industry leaders of Federation of Indian chambers of Commerce and Industry had requested for a 50% wage subsidy and underlined that in the absence of such a relief they may let go of some workers due to business loss.
Now, this could make things even worse for those who have kids as the colleges and schools are demanding to pay full fees.
