Legislative Initiatives
- Under Payment of Bonus Amendment Act, eligibility limit for payment of bonus enhanced from Rs 10000/- to Rs. 21000/- per month and the Calculation Ceiling from Rs. 3500/- to Rs. 7000/- or the minimum wages.
- Payment of Wages (Amendment) Act, 2017 enabling payment of Wages to employees by Cash or Cheque or crediting it to their bank account.
- Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 provides for complete ban on employment of children below 14 years in any occupation or process.
- Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017, increases the paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.
- The Employee Compensation (Amendment) Act, seeks to rationalize penalties and strengthen the rights of the workers under the Act.
- The Payment Of Gratuity (Amendment) Act, 2018, provides flexibility to the Central Government firstly to increase the ceiling limit of gratuity to such amount as may be notified from time to time and secondly to enhance the calculation of continuous service for the purpose of gratuity in case of female employees who are on maternity leave to such period as may be notified from time to time. Vide Notification dated 29th March, 2018, the ceiling limit of gratuity has been increased from Rs. 10 Lakh to 20 Lakh and this period of maternity leave for calculation purpose has been enhanced from 12 weeks to 26 weeks.
Governance Reforms
- Ministry has notified “Ease of Compliance to maintain Registers under various Labour Laws Rules, 2017” on 21st February 2017 which has in effect replaced the 56 Registers/Forms under 9 Central Labour Laws and Rules made there under in to 5 common Registers/Forms. This will save efforts, costs and lessen the compliance burden by various establishments.
- A Model Shops and Establishments (RE&CS) Bill, 2016 has been circulated to all States/UTs for adoption with appropriate modification. The said Bill inter alia provides for freedom to operate an Establishment for 365 days in a year without any restriction on opening/closing time and enables employment of women during night shifts if adequate safety provisions exist.
- Under Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, the category i.e. Fixed Term Employment, with all Statutory Benefits, has been extended to all Sectors to impart flexibility to an establishment to employ people to meet the fluctuating demands, vide the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central (Amendment) Rules, 2018.
- Ministry has also notified Rationalization of Forms and Reports under Certain Labour Laws Rules, 2017on 28.03.2017 for reduction of number of Forms / Returns under 3 Central Acts / Rules from 36 to 12 by reviewing redundant and overlapping fields.
- UNIFIED ANNUAL RETURN – “Unified Annual Return returns have been made mandatory in respect of the these Central Labour Acts [the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947] on the Shram Suvidha Portal”.
