Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is Surya Narayan Sahu, and I am working in a PSU. My friend is also working as a Senior Manager in a different PSU company. He is keeping a contractual laborer since October 2011 to date. His nature of duties was limited as per the work order issued to the contractor. However, he was working more than his designated duties as per the instructions of the Senior Manager. He was supposed to leave the office after 8 hours of duty, but he was working 10 hours daily without extra wages, as per the instructions of the senior manager. For the extra working hours, he used to issue a gate pass, mentioning that due to workload, he may need to stay beyond the specific time.
After continuously working for 4 years, he is now claiming compensation for the extra hours worked for the company beyond the limitations of the work order. Additionally, he is requesting a permanent job for performing extra duties not specified in the work order.
My friend mentioned that there is no proof of him performing these extra duties. He stated that whenever a gate pass was issued for working extra hours, the additional duties he undertook in the office were mentioned in the remarks column of the gate pass, which my friend signed without his consent.
He now threatens to take the matter to the labor court if compensation and a job are not provided. He is consulting a lawyer who suggested this idea when he joined the company, and he has been following the lawyer's advice, keeping all evidence as instructed. The lawyer is hopeful that with this evidence, my friend will win the case. Please advise on how my friend can address this issue with his seniors, his standing in this situation, and what steps he should take now.
Regards
From India, Patnagarh
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My name is Surya Narayan Sahu, and I am working in a PSU. My friend is also working as a Senior Manager in a different PSU company. He is keeping a contractual laborer since October 2011 to date. His nature of duties was limited as per the work order issued to the contractor. However, he was working more than his designated duties as per the instructions of the Senior Manager. He was supposed to leave the office after 8 hours of duty, but he was working 10 hours daily without extra wages, as per the instructions of the senior manager. For the extra working hours, he used to issue a gate pass, mentioning that due to workload, he may need to stay beyond the specific time.
After continuously working for 4 years, he is now claiming compensation for the extra hours worked for the company beyond the limitations of the work order. Additionally, he is requesting a permanent job for performing extra duties not specified in the work order.
My friend mentioned that there is no proof of him performing these extra duties. He stated that whenever a gate pass was issued for working extra hours, the additional duties he undertook in the office were mentioned in the remarks column of the gate pass, which my friend signed without his consent.
He now threatens to take the matter to the labor court if compensation and a job are not provided. He is consulting a lawyer who suggested this idea when he joined the company, and he has been following the lawyer's advice, keeping all evidence as instructed. The lawyer is hopeful that with this evidence, my friend will win the case. Please advise on how my friend can address this issue with his seniors, his standing in this situation, and what steps he should take now.
Regards
From India, Patnagarh
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Dear Surya,
Your post raises basically two issues, i.e., one is legal and the other is ethical.
With your limited inputs about the contract for service entered into between the contractor and the PSU of your friend, what I can say about the legal issue is that in the first place, the contract labor/employee cannot stake a claim for permanency against the Principal Employer/PSU either by the efflux of time or because of the overtime work usually allotted to him unless he is able to prove that the contract was a sham. Secondly, your Senior Manager friend might be under the wrong impression that there is no need to pay overtime wages to a contract labor as the supervision of his work is the responsibility of the contractor only. He might have blissfully forgotten the fact that the entire overtime work was authorized by him only. Had he paid the overtime wages to the contractor and in turn the contractor failed to make payment to the contract labor, that is a different thing to be pursued in a different manner, at least to mitigate the PE's responsibility. Remuneration payable for overtime work is also wages as per the definition of wages under section 2(vi) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, and Section 21(4) of the CLRA Act, 1970 enjoins the responsibility for payment of wages to contract labor upon the Principal Employer. So, it is better that your friend settles this matter amicably now before any claim is filed by the contract labor under section 15 of the PW Act, 1936, which may result in an award of compensation to the tune of 10 times the claim amount.
Regarding the ethical aspect, I think that your friend forgets the fact that as a manager, he is managing people and not machines. How can he expect a poor wager to forego the wages for the extra hours of work done by him at the instance of the manager's orders? If your friend resists the claim on the basis of material evidence (though it seems abundant as per the post), what is his credibility as a manager?
Whether the episode related is your friend's or your own, it is better to consider making amends the way I suggested.
From India, Salem
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6185Your post raises basically two issues, i.e., one is legal and the other is ethical.
With your limited inputs about the contract for service entered into between the contractor and the PSU of your friend, what I can say about the legal issue is that in the first place, the contract labor/employee cannot stake a claim for permanency against the Principal Employer/PSU either by the efflux of time or because of the overtime work usually allotted to him unless he is able to prove that the contract was a sham. Secondly, your Senior Manager friend might be under the wrong impression that there is no need to pay overtime wages to a contract labor as the supervision of his work is the responsibility of the contractor only. He might have blissfully forgotten the fact that the entire overtime work was authorized by him only. Had he paid the overtime wages to the contractor and in turn the contractor failed to make payment to the contract labor, that is a different thing to be pursued in a different manner, at least to mitigate the PE's responsibility. Remuneration payable for overtime work is also wages as per the definition of wages under section 2(vi) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936, and Section 21(4) of the CLRA Act, 1970 enjoins the responsibility for payment of wages to contract labor upon the Principal Employer. So, it is better that your friend settles this matter amicably now before any claim is filed by the contract labor under section 15 of the PW Act, 1936, which may result in an award of compensation to the tune of 10 times the claim amount.
Regarding the ethical aspect, I think that your friend forgets the fact that as a manager, he is managing people and not machines. How can he expect a poor wager to forego the wages for the extra hours of work done by him at the instance of the manager's orders? If your friend resists the claim on the basis of material evidence (though it seems abundant as per the post), what is his credibility as a manager?
Whether the episode related is your friend's or your own, it is better to consider making amends the way I suggested.
From India, Salem
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This act is exploitation of labor.
"Not only this, he is also asking for a permanent job to do extra duties which are not mentioned in the work order."
It is not mandatory to give a permanent job to contract labor in this fashion.
"which my friend used to sign without knowing his consent."
Probably, you meant consent. Now that he has signed, he cannot claim he did not know what was written in it.
Overtime pay is payable, but I do not think he will get a favorable order from any court for a permanent job in this case.
From India, Pune
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"Not only this, he is also asking for a permanent job to do extra duties which are not mentioned in the work order."
It is not mandatory to give a permanent job to contract labor in this fashion.
"which my friend used to sign without knowing his consent."
Probably, you meant consent. Now that he has signed, he cannot claim he did not know what was written in it.
Overtime pay is payable, but I do not think he will get a favorable order from any court for a permanent job in this case.
From India, Pune
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Mr. Umakanthan has clarified the legal issues involved in this case well. Your friend might have unknowingly created evidence about its implications. It is true that the worker may not succeed in his claim for permanency of his employment in the principal employer's company. He cannot raise an industrial dispute individually about overtime except through the union. Even if the union raises it, your friend needs to contest it by stating that the Union, being the union of contract workers, has no right against the principal employer. However, all this requires subtle expertise in labor laws. Therefore, one option is to settle the overtime issue through the contractor, not directly, to control the situation, or else contest the demand when raised by the union. For now, your friend can keep track of the matter.
B. Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
From India, Mumbai
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B. Saikumar
HR & Labor Law Advisor
From India, Mumbai
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