The Code on Wages, 2019

(1) This Act may be called the Code on Wages, 2019. (2) It extends to the whole of India. (3) It shall come into force on such date1as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Code andany reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Code shall be construed as a referenceto the coming into force of that provision.

In this Code, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "accounting year" means the year commencing on the 1st day of April; (b) "Advisory Board" means the Central Advisory Board or, as the case may be, the StateAdvisory Board, constituted under section 42; (c) "agricultural income tax law" means any law for the time being in force relating to the levy oftax on agricultural income; (d) "appropriate Government" means, -- (i) in relation to, an establishment carried on by or under the authority of the CentralGovernment or the establishment of railways, mines, oil field, major ports, air transport service,telecommunication, banking and insurance company or a corporation or other authorityestablished by a Central Act or a central public sector undertaking or subsidiary companies set upby central public sector undertakings or autonomous bodies owned or controlled by the CentralGovernment, including establishment of contractors for the purposes of such establishment,corporation or other authority, central public sector undertakings, subsidiary companies orautonomous bodies, as the case may be, the Central Government; (ii) in relation to any other establishment, the State Government; (e) "company" means a company as defined in clause (20) of section 2 of the Companies Act,2013 (18 of 2013); (f) "contractor", in relation to an establishment, means a person, who-- (i) undertakes to produce a given result for the establishment, other than a mere supply ofgoods or articles of manufacture to such establishment, through contract labour; or (ii) supplies contract labour for any work of the establishment as mere human resource andincludes a sub-contractor; (g) "contract labour" means a worker who shall be deemed to be employed in or in connectionwith the work of an establishment when he is hired in or in connection with such work by or through a contractor, with or without the knowledge of the principal employer and includes inter-Statemigrant worker but does not include a worker (other than part-time employee) who-- (i) is regularly employed by the contractor for any activity of his establishment and hisemployment is governed by mutually accepted standards of the conditions of employment(including engagement on permanent basis), and (ii) gets periodical increment in the pay, social security coverage and other welfare benefits inaccordance with the law for the time being in force in such employment; (h) "co-operative society" means a society registered or deemed to be registered under the Cooperative Societies Act, 1912 (2 of 1912), or any other law for the time being in force relating to cooperative societies in any State; (i) "corporation" means any body corporate established by or under any Central Act, or State Act,but does not include a company or a co-operative society; (j) "direct tax" means-- (i) any tax chargeable under the-- (A) Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961); (B) Companies (Profits) Surtax Act, 1964 (7 of 1964); (C) Agricultural income tax law; and (ii) any other tax which, having regard to its nature or incidence, may be declared by theCentral Government, by notification, to be a direct tax for the purposes of this Code; (k) "employee" means, any person (other than an apprentice engaged under the Apprentices Act,1961 (52 of 1961)), employed on wages by an establishment to do any skilled, semi-skilled orunskilled, manual, operational, supervisory, managerial, administrative, technical or clerical work forhire or reward, whether the terms of employment be express or implied, and also includes a persondeclared to be an employee by the appropriate Government, but does not include any member of theArmed Forces of the Union; (l) "employer" means a person who employs, whether directly or through any person, or on hisbehalf or on behalf of any person, one or more employees in his establishment and where theestablishment is carried on by any department of the Central Government or the State Government,the authority specified, by the head of such department, in this behalf or where no authority, is sospecified the head of the department and in relation to an establishment carried on by a localauthority, the chief executive of that authority, and includes,-- (i) in relation to an establishment which is a factory, the occupier of the factory as defined inclause (n) of section 2 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948) and, where a person has beennamed as a manager of the factory under clause (f) of sub-section (1) of section 7 of the said Act,the person so named; (ii) in relation to any other establishment, the person who, or the authority which, hasultimate control over the affairs of the establishment and where the said affairs is entrusted to amanager or managing director, such manager or managing director; (iii) contractor; and (iv) legal representative of a deceased employer; (m) "establishment" means any place where any industry, trade, business, manufacture oroccupation is carried on and includes Government establishment; (n) "factory" means a factory as defined in clause (m) of section 2 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63of 1948); (o) "Government establishment" means any office or department of the Government or a localauthority; (p) "Income-tax Act" means the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961); (q) "industrial dispute" means,-- (i) any dispute or difference between employers and employers, or between employers andworkers or between workers and workers which is connected with the employment or nonemployment or the terms of employment or with the conditions of labour, of any person; and (ii) any dispute or difference between an individual worker and an employer connected with,or arising out of, discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or termination of such worker; (r) "Inspector-cum-Facilitator" means a person appointed by the appropriate Government undersub-section (1) of section 51; (s) "minimum wage" means the wage fixed under section 6; (t) "notification" means a notification published in the Gazette of India or in the Official Gazetteof a State, as the case may be, and the expression "notify" with its grammatical variations and cognateexpressions shall be construed accordingly; (u) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the appropriate Government; (v) "same work or work of a similar nature" means work in respect of which the skill, effort,experience and responsibility required are the same, when performed under similar workingconditions by employees and the difference if any, between the skill, effort, experience andresponsibility required for employees of any gender, are not of practical importance in relation to theterms and conditions of employment; (w) "State" includes a Union territory; (x) "Tribunal" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (r) of section 2 of theIndustrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947); (y) "wages" means all remuneration whether by way of salaries, allowances or otherwise,expressed in terms of money or capable of being so expressed which would (42 of 2005), if the termsof employment, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable to a person employed in respect of hisemployment or of work done in such employment, and includes, -- (i) basic pay; (ii) dearness allowance; and (iii) retaining allowance, if any, but does not include-- (a) any bonus payable under any law for the time being in force, which does not formpart of the remuneration payable under the terms of employment; (b) the value of any house-accommodation, or of the supply of light, water, medicalattendance or other amenity or of any service excluded from the computation of wages by ageneral or special order of the appropriate Government; (c) any contribution paid by the employer to any pension or provident fund, and theinterest which may have accrued thereon; (d) any conveyance allowance or the value of any travelling concession; (e) any sum paid to the employed person to defray special expenses entailed on him bythe nature of his employment; (f) house rent allowance; (g) remuneration payable under any award or settlement between the parties or order of acourt or Tribunal; (h) any overtime allowance; (i) any commission payable to the employee; (j) any gratuity payable on the termination of employment; (k) any retrenchment compensation or other retirement benefit payable to the employee orany ex gratia payment made to him on the termination of employment: Provided that, for calculating the wages under this clause, if payments made by theemployer to the employee under clauses (a) to (i) exceeds one-half, or such other per cent. asmay be notified by the Central Government, of the all remuneration calculated under thisclause, the amount which exceeds such one-half, or the per cent. so notified, shall be deemedas remuneration and shall be accordingly added in wages under this clause: Provided further that for the purpose of equal wages to all genders and for the purpose ofpayment of wages, the emoluments specified in clauses (d), (f), (g) and (h) shall be taken forcomputation of wage. Explanation.--Where an employee is given in lieu of the whole or part of the wagespayable to him, any remuneration in kind by his employer, the value of such remuneration inkind which does not exceed fifteen per cent. of the total wages payable to him, shall bedeemed to form part of the wages of such employee; (z) "worker" means any person (except an apprentice as defined under clause (aa) of section 2 ofthe Apprentices Act, 1961 (52 of 1961)) employed in any industry to do any manual, unskilled,skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory work for hire or reward, whether the terms ofemployment be express or implied, and includes-- (i) working journalists as defined in clause (f) of section 2 of the Working Journalists andother Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955 (45of 1955); and (ii) sales promotion employees as defined in clause (d) of section 2 of the Sales PromotionEmployees (Conditions of Service) Act, 1976 (11 of 1976), and for the purposes of anyproceeding under this Code in relation to an industrial dispute, includes any such person who hasbeen dismissed, discharged or retrenched or otherwise terminated in connection with, or as aconsequence of, that dispute, or whose dismissal, discharge or retrenchment has led to thatdispute, but does not include any such person-- (a) who is subject to the Air Force Act, 1950 (45 of 1950), or the Army Act, 1950 (46 of1950), or the Navy Act, 1957 (62 of 1957); or (b) who is employed in the police service or as an officer or other employee of a prison;or (c) who is employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity; or (d) who is employed in a supervisory capacity drawing wage of exceeding fifteenthousand rupees per month or an amount as may be notified by the Central Government fromtime to time.

(1) There shall be no discrimination in anestablishment or any unit thereof among employees on the ground of gender in matters relating to wagesby the same employer, in respect of the same work or work of a similar nature done by any employee. (2) No employer shall, -- (i) for the purposes of complying with the provisions of sub-section (1), reduce the rate of wagesof any employee; and (ii) make any discrimination on the ground of sex while recruiting any employee for the samework or work of similar nature and in the conditions of employment, except where the employmentof women in such work is prohibited or restricted by or under any law for the time being in force.

Where there is anydispute as to whether a work is of same or similar nature for the purposes of section 3, the dispute shall bedecided by such authority as may be notified by the appropriate Government.

No employer shall pay to any employee wages less thanthe minimum rate of wages notified by the appropriate Government.