Supreme Court Says No Action Against Employers Who Don’t Pay Full Salaries To Employees

The Supreme Court has now instructed that the Government cannot take any action against companies and employers if they have violated the Government’s policy of paying full wages to the employees. 

Find out what the Supreme Court has announced right here!

Supreme Court Instructs Government Not To Take Coercive Action Against Employers

The Coronavirus pandemic and its spread across the world asks for social distancing to be made compulsory which resulted in nationwide lockdown being imposed. 

During this lockdown, many organizations and firms faced shortage of work, clients, and new projects. A lot of employees have faced the brunt of this, including being fired from their workplaces and getting way fewer wages than what they received before. 

For this, the Government instructed organizations and employers not to fire employees during the lockdown. They were also instructed not to cut the wages of the employees, and a policy was also issued for the same.

However, now the Supreme Court has announced that the Government cannot take any coercive action against the private employers who cant pay full wages to their employees. 

Small Establishments, Industries, Shops File Petition Urging To Discard Govt’s Policy

The SC was presiding over a petition filed by many small commercial establishments, industries, shops and factories who complained that they were already facing heavy losses in businesses. They argued that paying their employees in full would leave them out of business and any income. 

They argued, “You [the government] said everybody across the board should pay their workers 100% wages. Some of them [private employers] would be able to pay full wages, but many may not even be able to pay 25% or 50% wages… You have made such employers even liable to penal action.”

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal observed that the notification was no longer effective since many workers and employees returned to their home towns. The policy was put in place to ensure that there wouldn’t be a financial crisis amongst the lower strata of society, including laborers and salaried employees. It was a “temporary measure to mitigate the financial hardship” of employees and workers, especially those who worked on a contract basis.