#Lockdown: Reducing or Stopping Salary Is A Legal Offence – Employers Are Obliged To Pay Full Salary

The lockdown has given a reason for many companies to fire their employees. Times of India has fired their entire team, and Amdocs Pune also fired about 150 of their employees. 

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However, what we don’t know is that the Government of India has declared that the pays of employees weren’t to be cut during the lockdown. If an entity is found cutting pays of employees, that would be considered a legal offense. 

Will the companies comply with this ruling? What happens if they don’t? Let’s find out!

Government of India Prohibits Employers To Fire Employees Or Cut Their Wages

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease has led to the entire nation being under lockdown. Many a company is allowing its employees to work from their homes, however, some of them are resorting to extreme measures like firing their employees. 

In fact, Indian IT firms have started firing their employees and there is an estimate of 1.5 lakh IT employees more to face the heat as well. 

The Labour Ministry has issued an advisory to the associations of employers’ asking them not to fire their employees (especially precarious workers) or slash their employees’ wages in this critical period of lockdown.

No Work No Pay Principle Cannot Be Invoked In This Situation

The advisory assumes a legal dimension when they said that the if the workers take leave during the lockdown, they should be  “deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages…Further if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due to COVID-19, the employees of such unit (sic) will be deemed to be on duty.”

The advisory makes it clear that the “No work no pay” principle is not applicable here as neither the employers nor the workers are able to report for work even if they want to. Also, the workers that are affected by the deadly Covid-19 are labeled as ineligible to work. Therefore, the employers cannot cut their wages for absences due to the lockdown.

Additionally, this advisory has been issued way back on March 29, whereas, the lockdown was imposed on March 25.