Govt issues circular to safeguard daily wagers

Excelsior Correspondent

REASI, Apr 8: Assistant Labour Commissioner, Pradyot Gupta has issued a circular regarding non-termination of services of daily wagers or employees by business establishments.
The circular directs all employers in the establishments-government/public/private sectors to extend cooperation by not terminating the employment casual or contractual workers and by not lowering their wages.
It further directs that if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due to COVID-19, the employees/ workers shall be deemed to be on duty.
The circular cites an order by Union Ministry of Home Affairs which directed all the employers to pay wages of their workers on the due date without any deduction for the period their establishments are under closure during the lockdown.
The order further reads, if the workers are living in rented accommodation, landlords of those properties shall not demand payment of rent for a period of one month.
Any violation of the order is liable to attract strict action against defaulters under relevant Acts.