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RECENT AMENDMENTS IN LABOUR LAWS SAURABH D. KULKARNI ADVOCATE.

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Presentation on theme: "RECENT AMENDMENTS IN LABOUR LAWS SAURABH D. KULKARNI ADVOCATE."— Presentation transcript:

1 RECENT AMENDMENTS IN LABOUR LAWS SAURABH D. KULKARNI ADVOCATE

2 Y EAR 2013 1. THE MAHA. SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS ACT, 1948 With effect from 11 th November, 2013 shops were allowed to remain open until 10 pm. Earlier this limit was only up to 8.30 pm. 2. THE SEXUAL HARRASMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) ACT, 2013. came into force w.e.f. 9 th December, 2013 2

3 Y EAR 2014 1. EMPLOYEES PROVIDENT FUND AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS ACT,1952 With effect from 1 st September, 2014 salary / wage limit for coverage of an employee was raised from Rs. 6,500/- to Rs. 15,000/- per month, thereby brought many uncovered employees into the ambit of this Act. 3

4 2. The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Rules, 2014 Gaz. of India Ext. Pt. II S.3, sub.s. (i) dt. 10.11.2014 NOTIFICATION G.S.R. 784(E).-ln exercise of the powers conferred under section 38 of. the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 (21 of 1965), the Central Government, hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975, namely:- Short title and commencement.- (1) These rules may be called the Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Rules, 2014. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. In the Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975 (hereinafter referred to as the principal rules), for rule 5, the following rule shall be substituted, namely:- (5) Annual Returns.-(1) Every employer shall on or before the 1st day of February in each year upload annual returns in the Form D on the web portal of the Ministry of Labour and Employment giving information as to the particulars specified in respect of the preceding year: Provided that the annual returns shall be filed within the time limit specified in section 19 of the Act. (2) Every employer on or before the 1st day of February in each year may file annual returns in the Form D to the Inspector giving information as to the particulars specified in respect of the preceding year: Provided that during inspection, the inspector shall require the production of the accounts, books, register and other documents if the same are maintained in manual form or in electronic form, as the case may be. 4

5 Y EAR 2015 1. THE MAHA. SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS ACT, 1948 Vide its Notification dated March 17, 2015 Govt. Of Maha., allowed all shops, to remain open on all 365 days with certain terms and conditions. 2. PROFESSION TAX With effect from April, 2015 female employees, whose monthly salaries / wages are less than 10,000/- their Profession Tax deduction became NIL. 3. THE MAHA. SHOPS AND ESTABLISHMENTS ACT, 1948 Vide Notification dated May 18, 2015 Govt. of Maha has amended a manner of registering and renewing registration of establishment and form of registration and renewal certificate. Broadly by virtue of this amendment, following changes have taken place. Submission of all application became online. If the license or renewal application is not expressly granted or refused within a period of next 7 working days, the registration or renewal of registration of the establishment will be deemed to have been granted. Copy of the receipt of application and copy of payment of fees will be then treated as certificate of registration or renewal of certificate 5

6 Y EAR 2015 4. THE MAHA. CONTRACT LABOUR (REGULATION AND ABOLITION) RULES, 2015 Vide Notification dated June 1, 2015, Govt. of Maha. amended its principal rules and made similar provisions such as Submission of all application became online. If the Registration Certificate, license or renewal application is not expressly granted or refused within a period of next 7 working days, the registration or renewal of registration of the establishment will be deemed to have been granted. Copy of the receipt of application and copy of payment of fees will be then treated as certificate of registration or License or renewal of License. Fees of Registration Certificate, License and renewal of License flatly enhanced to Rs. 5,000/- New format of undertaking from the Contractor is provided through Form IV-A. 6

7 Y EAR 2016 THE PAYMENT OF BONUS ACT, 1965 Vide Notification dated December 31, 2015 Act is amended to the following extent Amendment made effective from 1 st April, 2014 which is stayed by many High Courts. Employees whose monthly wages are Rs. 21,000/- are brought into the purview of the Act. Earlier this limit was Rs. 10,000/- Calculation of Bonus is be based on Rs. 7,000/- or the Minimum Wages for the concerned Scheduled Industry whichever is higher. This limit was earlier Rs. 3,500/- only. THE FACTORIES ACT, 1948 Govt. of Maha. vide its Notification dated 2 nd December, 2015 brought following changes in its rules. 7

8 ParticularsPrior to AmendmentPost AmendmentRemarks Section 2(m) definition of term 'Factory' i.Term 'Factory' has been defined to mean premises where:manufacturing process is carried on with the aid of power and 10 or more workers work on any day in the preceding 12 months; or ii.manufacturing process is carried on without the aid of power and 20 or more workers work on any day in the preceding 12 months; i.Factory means premises where:where manufacturing process is carried on with the aid of power and 10 or more workers or such number of workers as may be specified by the State Government by notification, from time to time work on any day in the preceding 12 months; or Provided that the number of workers to be specified by State Government shall not exceed 20 workers. ii.where manufacturing process is carried on without the aid of power and 20 or more workers or such number of workers as may be specified by the State Government by notification, from time to time work on any day in the preceding 12 months; Provided that the number of workers to be specified by State Government shall not exceed 40 workers. i.Pursuant to this amendment, the State Government is empowered to classify any premises as 'Factory' even when:the manufacturing is with the aid of power and less than 10 workers are working therein; or ii.the manufacturing is without the aid of power and less than 20 workers are working therein. iii.Conversely, pursuant to this amendment, the State Government is also empowered, to issue a notification, and thereby not classify any premises as 'Factory' even if:the manufacturing is with the aid of power and 19 or less workers are working therein; or iv.the manufacturing is without the aid of power and 39 or less workers are working therein. 8

9 Section 65(2) (Power to make exempting orders) The State Government or the Chief Inspector were empowered to exempt any or all adult workers of any factory or group/class of factories from compliance of any or all Sections 51( Weekly hours ), 52 ( Weekly holidays ), 54( Daily hours ), 56( Spread over ). This exemption was made available to enable the factory or factories to deal with an exceptional press of work. For this purpose, the State Government or the Chief Inspector had to pass a written order stipulating the conditions for exemption. In order to deal with exceptional press of work, any or all adult workers of the factories shall be exempted from compliance of any or all Sections 51( Weekly hours ), 52 ( Weekly holidays ), 54( Daily hours ), 56( Spread over ). The terms and conditions for aforesaid exemption shall be prescribed in the rules. Pursuant to this amendment, the terms and conditions for availing exemption from compliance under Sections 51( Weekly hours ), 52 ( Weekly holidays ), 54( Daily hours ), 56( Spread over ) would be prescribed under Maharashtra Factories Rules, 1963. Thus the need to approach authorities under the Principal Act for exemptions has been done away and instead the terms and conditions for the exemption will be prescribed in the rules. Note : At present the rules for the exemption have not been notified. Once the State Government notifies the rules, it would become clear as to when and under what circumstances the factory would be exempted from compliance with aforesaid provisions of Principal Act. 9

10 Section 65(3)(iv) (Power to make exempting orders) The exemption granted under Section 65(2) is subject to certain conditions set out in Section 65(3). One of the conditions is that no worker shall work overtime for more than 7 days at a stretch and the total overtime hours shall not exceed 75 hours in any quarter. The limit of overtime hours has been increased from 75 hours to 115 hours per quarter. The overall exemption/relaxation with respect to overtime hours that a factory can avail for dealing with exceptional press of work shall not exceed 115 hours per quarter. 10

11 Section 66(1)(b) proviso (Further restrictions on employment of women) Section 66(1) amongst others restricted women employees to work in any factory except between the hours of 6 A.M. to 7 P.M. However, the State Government may, by a notification in the Official Gazette, vary these limits to the extent that no woman shall be employed in factory between the hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The women workers are now allowed to work even between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in any factory in which prescribed adequate safety and security measures or safeguards are provided. Women workers are now allowed to work in night shift provided the prescribed rules as to their safety and safeguards is adequately provided. Note : At present the rules for adequate safety and safeguard of women employees have not been provided in the Maharashtra Factories Rules 1963. 11

12 Section 79(1) (Annual leave with wages) In order to be eligible for leave with wages, every worker was required to work in a factory for 240 days or more during a calendar year. The requirement of working 240 days has now been reduced to 90 days. Similar change has been incorporated in Explanation 1 which deals with computation of the period of 240 days. Now workers will become eligible for leaves with wages in the subsequent year if they work for 90 or more days in a calendar year. 12

13 Section 85(1)(i) (Power to apply the act to certain premises) i.Pursuant to this section the State Government may notify applicability of any or all provisions of the Principal Act on any premises where manufacturing process is carried on with aid of power and employing less than 10 workers; ii.without the aid of power and employing less than 20 workers. i.The State Government may notify applicability of any or all provisions of the Principal Act on any premises where manufacturing process is carried on with aid of power and employing less than 10 workers or such number of workers as may be specified by the State Government under Section 2(m)(i) ; ii.without the aid of power and employing less than 20 workers or such number of workers as may be specified by the State Government under Section 2(m)(ii). This amendment is in lines with the amendment carried out in the definition of the term 'Factory' under Section 2(m) of the Principal Act. 13

14 Section 92A (Compounding of certain offences) and Fourth Schedule -A new Section has been introduced pursuant to which offences set out in the Fourth Schedule (new schedule) may be compounded before the institution of prosecution. The offences shall be compounded by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Chief Inspector. The amount of fine shall not be more than Rupees one lakh as mentioned in Section 92 of the Principal Act. Once the offence set out in the Fourth Schedule is compounded no further proceedings shall be taken against the offender in respect of the offence. The Fourth Schedule sets out 33 non-compliances under the Principal Act which can be compounded prior to initiation of the prosecution. Section 105 (1) (Cognizance of offences) Court will take cognizance of any offence upon complaint by or written sanction of an Inspector. Court will take cognizance of any offence upon complaint by or written sanction of a Chief Inspector. The process of investigation into any offence under the Principal Act and subsequent prosecution for the same can start only upon complaint made/sanction given by Chief Inspector of Factories. 14

15 T HE NEWLY ADDED F OURTH S CHEDULE DEALS WITH THE OFFENCES AS MENTIONED IN S ECTION 11, 18, 19, 20, 42, 43, 44, 45,46, 47, 48, 50, 53, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 79, 80, 81, 82, IT IS THREE, 84, 93, 97, 108, 110,111,111A, 114. These offences are mainly of the following nature, Not maintaining cleanliness in the factory. Not providing and maintaining arrangements for drinking water for the workers. Not providing Latrine and urinals. Not providing spittoons. Not providing and maintaining washing facilities for workers. Not providing sitting facilities to workmen. Not providing and maintaining first aid facilities for workmen. Not providing and maintaining canteen facilities as further provisions. 15

16 Not providing and maintaining shelters, restrooms and lunch rooms as per the provisions. Not complying with the rules framed under Section 50 of the Act. Not displaying the notices and not maintaining the registers of compensatory holiday. Not maintaining the registers which are required to maintain under the Act. Allowing worker double employment on any day. Not displaying notice of periods of work for adult workers. Not maintaining the register of adult workers 16

17 Allowing workers to work not in correspondence with the working hours mention in the notice. If the rules while exempting the factory from certain provisions if not followed. If the annual leave as per the law is not provided and wages for the authorized leave is not paid. If the advance in certain cases as per the legal provision is not paid to the workers. The owner of the premises has not complied with the required legal provisions. If workers have failed to discharge their legal responsibility. If the notices under the act are not displayed. If employer denies the lawful and legal rights of the workers. If employer changes the facilities and conveniences offered to workers. 17

18 Y EAR 2016 The amendments by Maharashtra State Government to the Factories Act, 1948 are a welcome step. Permitting women employees to work in factories during night shifts will not only promote gender equality but will lead to women empowerment. The relaxation of compliance with respect to Sections 51(Weekly hours), 52 (Weekly holidays), 54(Daily hours), 56(Spread over) during exceptional press of work will bring the much needed flexibility in the functioning of the factories. The factory workers would become entitled to leave by working only for 90 days instead of the longer period of 240 days. The amendment shall be effective from 1 st February 2016. 18

19 A ND M ANY MORE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS AWAITED … Any Query!! 19

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