The Government of Goa on September 23, 2021 has issued Draft Goa Code on Wages Rules, 2021 which will supersede the Goa, Daman and Diu Payment of Wages Rules, 1964 and the Goa, Daman and Diu Minimum Wages Rules, 1975.
The Foremost provisions of the draft rules are as followed:
• Manner of calculating minimum rate of wages
(1) For the purposes of sub-section (5) of section 6, the minimum rate of wages shall be fixed on the day basis keeping in view the following criteria, namely:
(I) the standard working-class family which includes a spouse and two children apart from the earning employee that is an equivalent of three adult consumption units;
(ii) a net intake of two thousand seven hundred calories per day per consumption unit;
(iii) sixty-six meters cloth per year per standard working class family;
(iv) housing rent expenditure to constitute ten per cent. of food and clothing expenditure;
(v) fuel, electricity and other miscellaneous items of expenditure to constitute twenty per cent. of minimum wage; and
(vi) expenditure for children education, medical requirement, recreation and expenditure on contingencies to constitute twenty-five per cent. of minimum wage.
(2) When the rate of wages for a day is fixed, then, such amount shall be divided by eight for fixing the rate of wages for an hour and multiplied by twenty-six for fixing the rate of wages for a month and in such division and multiplication the factors of one-half and more than one-half shall be rounded as next figure and the factors less than one-half shall be ignored. In case of a five-day working week, the hourly rate of minimum wages so calculated shall be used to derive the minimum wages for the day.
• Interval for revision of variable dearness allowance
The cost of living allowance and the cash value of the concession in respect of essential commodities at concession rate shall be computed once before the 1st April and then before the 1st October in every year to revise the variable dearness allowance payable to the employees on the minimum wages considering the Average Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers published by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India.
• Hours of work of classes of employees under sub-section (2) of section 13.
In case of classes of employees mentioned in sub-section (2) of section 13, the spread over of the hours of work may exceed twelve hours in any day.
• Calculation of wages for part time employee.
If any employee who is not in employment for normal working day but has worked for not less than four hours in working day shall be eligible for minimum wages computed by dividing the daily rate of minimum wages by eight (hours) with fifteen per cent. rise in it and quotient being stepped up to the nearest paisa.
• Intimation of deduction.
(1) Where an employer makes any deduction in pursuance of the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 20, he shall make intimation electronically or by registered post of such deduction to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator having jurisdiction, within ten days from the date of such deduction, explaining therein the reason of such deduction.
(2) The Inspector-cum-Facilitator shall, after receiving intimation under sub-rule (1), examine such intimation and if he finds that the explanation given therein is in contravention of any provision of the Code or the rules made thereunder, he shall initiate appropriate action under the Code against the employer within thirty days from the date of receipt of such intimation.
• Registers.
(1) Every employer of an establishment to which the Code applies shall maintain, electronically or in physical form, in the formats appended to these rules, the following registers:
(i) Employee Register in Form VI,
(ii) Register of Attendance, Wages, Overtime, Fines and Deductions for Damage and Loss in Form VII.
(2) All fines and all realisations thereof referred to in sub-section (8) of section 19 shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the employer electronically or in physical form in Form – VII appended to these rules, and the authority referred to in said sub-section (8) shall be the Commissioner of Labour, Maharashtra State.
(3) All deductions and all realisations referred to in sub-section (3) of section 21 shall be recorded in a register to be kept by the employer electronically or in physical form in Form VII appended to these rules.
(4) Registers required to be maintained under these rules shall be preserved for a period of five years after the date of last entry made therein.
• The manner of exhibiting the notice under sub-section (2) of section 19.—
A notice referred to in sub-section (2) of section 19 shall be displayed at the conspicuous places in the premises of the work place in which the employment is carried on, so that every concerned employee would be able easily to read the contents of the notice and a copy of the notice shall be sent to the Inspector-cum- Facilitator having jurisdiction.
All persons likely to be affected thereby and the notice is hereby given that the draft of the said rules will be taken into consideration by the Government on the expiry of forty-five days from the date of publication of this Notification in the Official Gazette.
All objections and suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Secretary (Labour), Government of Goa, Secretariat, Porvorim so that the objections and suggestions are taken into consideration at the time of finalization of these draft rules.
These Draft rules shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
[Notification No. 24/16/2021-LAB/444]
