As per the Supreme Court order, a big relief is provided to employers, private companies and factories, etc, the order says, the government cannot force them to pay full wages to workers during the lockdown period.
The top court gave the Union government 4 weeks to reply to the legality of its March 29 notification in which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) made it mandatory for employers to pay full wages to workers.
The apex court asked the Centre and state governments to circulate its order through labour departments to facilitate the settlement process.
While pronouncing the verdict on Friday, Justice Bhushan said, “We directed no coercive action to be taken against employers. Our earlier orders will continue. A detailed affidavit has to be filed by the Centre in the last week of July. Negotiation between employees and employers will have to be facilitated by state government labor departments.”
As employers argued in court that they do not have the financial capacity to pay full wages to workers for the period of the lockdown when they saw no business, the court asked the Centre to reply.
The Supreme Court has also said negotiation between employees and employers regarding wage payment will have to be facilitated by the state government labour departments.
The court has said labourers will have to negotiate for the payment of wages of 54 days of lockdown.
The matter will again be heard in the last week of July after Centre files its reply.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), in its March 29 circular, had asked all employers to make payment of wages to their workers without any deduction for the period their establishments were under closure during the lockdown to contain COVID-19.
The Secretary (Labour & Employment) had also written to chief secretaries of states to advise employers not to terminate employees from their jobs or reduce their wages amid the challenging situation of the pandemic.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, had earlier told the court that as the people were migrating after the lockdown, the government came out with the notification to ensure that the workers are paid to help them in staying put at workplaces.
