Labour Law II: Study Notes
The full subject, chapter by chapter. Free to read, no signup. Every chapter ends with the leading cases and the confusions examiners like to exploit.
Unit 1: Wages
Wage Concepts, Wage Policy and Commissions
Minimum, fair and living wage tiers and the constitutional basis for wage regulation; minimum wage is a valid restriction and employer capacity to pay is irrelevant.
Code on Wages 2019: Payment of Wages
Timely payment, authorised deductions and claims under the Code on Wages 2019; deduction for damage needs proven negligence plus a prior show-cause opportunity.
Code on Wages 2019: Minimum Wages
Fixing and revising minimum wages under the Code on Wages 2019: components, procedure, claims and remedies for underpayment.
Unit 2: Bonus
The Bonus Concept
Bonus is a profit-linked right, not ex gratia; origin and logic of the Full Bench Formula for computing bonus.
Payment of Bonus under Code on Wages
Allocable surplus, eligibility, set-on and set-off, and the 8.33% minimum bonus as an absolute statutory debt payable even in a loss year.
Unit 3: Social Security & Insurance
Social Security Framework
ILO concept of social security and the distinction between social insurance and social assistance, grounded in the DPSP.
Employee’s Compensation Act 1923
Employer liability for employment-linked injury; the nexus test requires employment to be a contributing, not the sole, cause.
Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948
ESI contributory insurance scheme and benefits, and the absolute Section 53 bar against parallel Employees Compensation Act claims.
Unit 4: Provident Fund, Maternity & Gratuity
Employees’ Provident Fund Act 1952
EPF contributions, schemes and benefits; basic wages cannot be artificially split to suppress PF, and once covered coverage continues.
Maternity Benefit Act 1961
Maternity entitlement and the bar on pregnancy-based termination; benefit is period-based and extends to casual and muster-roll women workers.
Payment of Gratuity Act 1972
Gratuity computation, eligibility, forfeiture and nomination; the 240-day rule is beneficial and construed in favour of the employee.
Unit 5: Factories & Special Protections
The Factories Act 1948
Health, safety and welfare provisions; factory status turns on process and worker numbers, and hazardous industry carries absolute liability.
Child Labour and Equal Remuneration
Prohibition and regulation of child labour with a state duty to rehabilitate, plus equal pay for equal work under the Equal Remuneration Act.
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