The Payment of Wages Act, 1936

(1) This Act may be called the Payment ofWages Act, 1936. 1[(2) It extends to the whole of India 2***.] (3) It shall come into force on such date3as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint. (4) It applies in the first instance to the payment of wages to persons employed in any 4[factory, topersons] employed (otherwise than in a factory) upon any railway by a railway administration or, eitherdirectly or through a sub-contractor, by a person fulfilling a contract with a railway administration 5[, andto persons employed in an industrial or other establishment specified in sub-clauses (a) to (g) of clause(ii) of section 2]. (5) 6[Appropriate Government] may, after giving three months notice of its intention of so doing, bynotification in the Official Gazette, extend the provisions of 7[this Act] or any of them to the payment ofwages to any class of persons employed in 8[any establishment or class of establishments specified by9[appropriate Government] under sub-clause @i2(h) of clause (ii) of section 2]: 10[Provided that in relation to any such establishment owned by the Central Government no suchnotification shall be issued except with the concurrence of that Government.] 11[(6) This Act applies to wages payable to an employed person in respect of a wage period if suchwages for that wage period do not exceed 12[twenty four thousand rupees] per month or such other highersum which, on the basis of figures of the Consumer Expenditure Survey published by the NationalSample Survey Organisation, the Central Government may, after every five years, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, specify.]

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-- 1[(i) "appropriate Government" means, in relation to railways, air transport services, mines andoilfields, the Central Government and, in relation to all other cases, the State Government;] 2[3[(ia)] "employed person" includes the legal representative of a deceased employed person; 3[(ib)] "employer" includes the legal representative of a deceased employer; 3[(ic)] "factory" means a factory as defined in clause (m) of section 2 of the Factories Act, 1948(63 of 1948), and includes any place to which the provisions of that Act have been applied undersub-section (1) of section 85 thereof;] (ii)4["industrial or other establishment" means] any-- 5[(a) tramway service, or motor transport service engaged in carrying passenger or goods orboth by road for hire or reward; (aa) air transport service other than such service belonging to, or exclusively employed in themilitary, naval or air forces of the Union or the Civil Aviation Department of the Government ofIndia;] (b) dock, wharf or jetty; 6[(c) inland vessel, mechanically propelled;] (d) mine, quarry or oilfield; (e) plantation; (f) workshop or other establishment in which articles are produced, adapted or manufactured,with a view to their use, transport or sale; 7[(g) establishment in which any work relating to the construction, development ormaintenance of buildings, roads, bridges or canals, or relating to operation connected withnavigation, irrigation, development or maintenance of buildings, roads, bridges or mission anddistribution of electricity or any other form of power is being carried on;] 8[(h) any other establishment or class of establishment which 9[appropriate Government may,having regard to the nature thereof, the need for protection of persons employed therein and otherrelevant circumstances, specify, by notification in the Official Gazette;] 10[(iia) "mine" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (j) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of theMines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952);] 11[(iii) "plantation" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (f) of section 2 of the PlantationsLabour Act, 1951 (69 of 1951);] (iv) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; 12["(v) railway administration has the meaning assigned to it in clause (32) of section 2 of theRailways Act, 1989 (24 of 1989);] 13[(vi) "wages" means all remuneration (whether by way of salary, allowances, or otherwise)expressed in terms of money or capable of being so expressed which would, if the terms ofemployment, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable to a person employed in respect of hisemployment or of work done in such employment, and includes-- (a) any remuneration payable under any award or settlement between the parties or order of aCourt; (b) any remuneration to which the person employed is entitled in respect of overtime work orholidays or any leave period; (c) any additional remuneration payable under the terms of employment (whether called abonus or by any other name); (d) any sum which by reason of the termination of employment of the person employed ispayable under any law, contract or instrument which provides for the payment of such sum,whether with or without deductions, but does not provide for the time within which the paymentis to be made; (e) any sum to which the person employed is entitled under any scheme framed under anylaw for the time being in force, but does not include-- (1) any bonus (whether under a scheme of profit sharing or otherwise) which does not form partof the remuneration payable under the terms of employment or which is not payable under any awardor settlement between the parties or order of a Court; (2) the value of any house-accommodation, or of the supply of light, water, medical attendance orother amenity or of any service excluded from the computation of wages by a general or special orderof 14[appropriate Government]; (3) any contribution paid by the employer to any pension or provident fund, and the interestwhich may have accrued thereon; (4) any travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession; (5) any sum paid to the employed person to defray special expenses entailed on him by the natureof his employment; or (6) any gratuity payable on the termination of employment in cases other than those specified insub-clause (d).] STATE AMENDMENT Maharashtra.-- Amendment of section 2 of Act IV of 1936.--In section 2 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, in theits application to the State of Bombay (hereinafter referred to as the said Act),-- (a) after clause (ii) the following new clause shall be inserted, namely:-- "(iia) legal representative means the person who in law represents the estate of a decreaseemployed person; (b) for clause (iii) the following shall be substituted, namely:-- "(iii) plantation means-- (a) any estate which is maintained for the purpose of growing cinchona rubber, coffee or tea, or (b) any farm which is maintained for the purpose of growing sugarcane and attached to a factoryestablished or maintained for the manufacture of sugar: Provide that on such, estate or farm twenty-five or more persons are engaged for the purpose;" [Vide Bombay Act XLVIII of 1955, s. 2]

1[3. Responsibility for payment of wages.--(1) Every employer shall be responsible for the paymentof all wages required to be paid under this Act to persons employed by him and in case of personsemployed,-- (a) in factories, if a person has been named as the manager of the factory under clause (f) ofsub-section (1) of section 7 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948); (b) in industrial or other establishments, if there is a person responsible to the employer for thesupervision and control of the industrial or other establishments; (c) upon railways (other than in factories), if the employer is the railway administration and therailway administration has nominated a person in this behalf for the local area concerned;(d) in the case of contractor, a person designated by such contractor who is directly under hischarge; and (e) in any other case, a person designated by the employer as a person responsible for complyingwith the provisions of the Act, the person so named, the person responsible to the employer, the person so nominated or the person sodesignated, as the case may be, shall be responsible for such payment. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), it shall be the responsibility of theemployer to make payment of all wages required to be made under this Act in case the contractor or theperson designated by the employer fails to make such payment.] STATE AMENDMENT Maharashtra.-- Amendment of section 3 of Act IV of 1936.--In section 3 of the payment of Wages Act, 1936(hereinafter referred to as the said Act), for the proviso the following shall be substituted, namely:-- "Provided that, in the case of persons employed (otherwise than by a contractor)-- (a) in factories, if a person has been named as the manager of the factory under clause (f) of subsection (1) of section 7 of the Factories Act, 1948 (LXIII of 1948), then the person so named and theemployed jointly and severally; (b) in industrial establishment, if there is a person responsibility to the employer for thesupervision and control of the industrial establishment, then the person so responsible and theemployer jointly and severally; (c) upon railways (otherwise than in factories), if the employer is the railway administration andthe railway administration has nominated a person in this behalf for the local area concerned, thenthe person so nominated; Shall be responsible for such payment." [Vide Bombay Act LXII of 1953, s. 2]

(1) Every person responsible for the payment of wages under section3 shall fix periods (in this Act referred to as wage-periods) in respect of which such wages shall bepayable. (2) No wage-period shall exceed one month.

(1) The wages of every person employed upon or in (a) any railway, factory or 1[industrial or other establishment upon or in which less than onethousand persons are employed, shall be paid before expiry of the seventh day, (b) any other railway, factory or 1[industrial or other establishment], shall be paid before theexpiry of the tenth day, after the last day of the wage-period in respect of which the wages are payable: 2[Provided that in the case of persons employed on a dock, wharf or jetty or in a mine, the balance ofwages found due on completion of the final tonnage account of the ship or wagons loaded or unloaded, asthe case may be, shall be paid before the expiry of the seventh day from the day of such completion.] (2) Where the employment of any person is terminated by or on behalf of the employer, the wages,earned by him shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day from the day on which hisemployment is terminated: 2[Provided that where the employment of any person in an establishment is terminated due to theclosure of the establishment for any reason other than a weekly or other recognised holiday, the wagesearned by him shall be paid before the expiry of the second day from the day on which his employment isso terminated.] (3) 3[Appropriate Government] may, by general or special order, exempt, to such extent and subjectto such conditions as may be specified in the order, the person responsible for the payment of wages topersons employed upon any railway (otherwise than in a factory) 4[or to persons employed as daily-ratedworkers in the Public Works Department of 5[appropriate Government]] from the operation of this sectionin respect of the wages of any such persons or class of such persons: 4[Provided that in the case of persons employed as daily-rated workers as aforesaid, no such ordershall be made except in consultation with the Central Government.] (4)6[Save as otherwise provided in sub-section (2), all payments] of wages shall be made on aworking day.