MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 29th January, 2019

G.S.R. 58(E). – Whereas a draft of certain rules further to amend the Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975, among other rules, were published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, sub-section (i) vide notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour and Employment number G.S.R. 413(E), dated the 23rd April, 2018, inviting objections and suggestions from all persons likely to be affected thereby, within a period of three months, from the date on which copies of Official Gazette containing the said notification were made available to the public;

And whereas copies of the said Official Gazette were made available to the general public on the 23rd April, 2018;

And whereas the objections and suggestions received on the said draft rules from the public have been considered by the Central Government;

Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 38 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 (31 of 1965), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975, namely:-

1. (1) These rules may be called the Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Rules, 2019.
   (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. In the Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975, for rule 5, the following rule shall be substituted, namely:-

‘5. Annual return.- Every employer shall, on or before the 1st day of February in each year, upload unified annual return in Form D on the web portal of the Central Government in the Ministry of Labour and Employment giving information as to the particulars specified in respect of the preceding year:

Provided that during inspection, the inspector may require the production of accounts, books, registers and other documents maintained in electronic form or otherwise.

Explanation.- For the purposes of this rule, the expression “electronic form” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (r) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).’.

[No. Z-20025/24/2018-LRC]
MANISH KUMAR GUPTA, Jt. Secy.

Note: The Payment of Bonus Rules, 1975 was published in the Gazette of India dated the 6th September, 1975 vide notification number G.S.R. 2367, dated the 21st August, 1975 and lastly amended vide notification number
G.S.R.1115(E) dated the 6th December, 2016.

Source: labour.gov.in

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NFIR
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen
3, CHELMSFORD ROAD, NEW DELHI – 110 055

No. 1/10/Part IV

Dated: 07/03/2016

Shri Suresh Prabhu,
Hon’ble Minister for Railways, Rail Mantralaya,
New Delhi

Respected Sir,

Sub: Amendment to payment of Bonus Act, 1965-Revision of wage calculation limit from Rs. 3500/- p.m. to Rs. 7000/- p.m. with effect from 01/04/2014- payment of P.L. Bonus to Railway employees at revised rate of Rs. 7000/- p.m.-reg.

Ref: Railway Board’s reply vide No. E(P&A)II-2014/PLB-8 dated 16/02/2016 to GS/NFIR.

While thanking the Railway Ministry for its prompt reply to NFIR under reference No. E(P&A)II-2014/PLB-8 dated 16/02/2016, the Federation re-iterates the following facts for taking appropriate steps by the Government.

(i) The chronological developments since decades need to be taken into account for processing the case for payment of PL Bonus to the Railway employees at the revised wage calculation ceiling limit i.e. Rs. 7000/- p.m. w.e.f. 01/04/2014.

(ii) When the Bonus Act was amended, raising the wage calculation ceiling from Rs. 750 to 1600, the Railway employees were paid PL Bonus at the revised wage calculation ceiling limit. Subsequently, when the Bonus Act was amended, revising the wage calculation limit from Rs. 1600/- to Rs. 2500/-, the said rate was adopted by the Railway Ministry and PL Bonus paid to the Railway employees at the revised rates.

(iii) When the wage calculation ceiling was again revised to Rs. 3500/- w.e.f. 1st April 2006, the Federation took up the issue and explained the merits of the case for adopting the rate of Rs. 3500/- w.e.f. 01/04/2006 for ensuring payment of PL Bonus. The Railway Ministry had processed the case and obtained Union Cabinet’s approval and issued orders vide letter No. E(P&A)II-2008/PLB-10 dated 03/10/2008, duly revising the wage calculation ceiling to Rs. 3500/- with retrospective effect i.e, from 01/04/2006, consequently, PLB arrears for the year 2006-07 were paid to the Railway employees in October 2008.

From the above facts, it could be seen that the payment of P.L. Bonus has been ensured commensurating with the revision of wage calculation ceiling limit made through amendments to Bonus Act, 1965 without any deviation. Similarly when the wage calculation ceiling limit has been raised to Rs. 7000/- p.m., the Railway Employees are entitled for payment of P.L. Bonus at revised rates for the year 2014-15.

NFIR, therefore, requests the Hon’ble Railway Minister to kindly arrange to process the case on top priority for obtaining the approval of the Union Cabinet for making payment of PL Bonus arrears pertaining to the year 2014-15 to the Railway employees at the earliest.

Yours sincerely,

(Dr. M. Raghavaiah)
General Secretary

Source : NFIR

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Changes under Bonus Act

Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Ministry Labour and Employment in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today stated that there is a proposal to increase the eligibility limit and calculation ceiling under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965.

The minimum wage in the country may not be comparable to those of developed countries owing to differences in exchange rates, purchasing power parity of local currencies, etc. Also under the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, both Central and State Governments are appropriate Governments to fix, review and revise the minimum wages of the workers employed in the scheduled employment under their respective jurisdictions. As regards minimum wages in States, there is disparity due to variations in socio-economic and agro-climatic conditions, income, prices of essential commodities, paying capacity, productivity and local conditions. However, as per the available information, a statement showing the range of rates of minimum wages in all the States/Union Territories is enlisted here.

Category wise Range of Minimum Rates of Wages in All States as on 01.12.2015.

 * Data is yet to be received. Figures indicate rates of wages as on 31.12.2013

The minimum wages shown for unskilled category for the state of Assam and West Bengal do not include the rates for Tea plantation. However, the rate of Tea Plantation in Tamil Nadu and Kerala are higher than the minimum for unskilled category.

Source:  7thpaycommissionnews.in

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the government will bring to Parliament a bill to amend the Bonus Act with a view to enhance the benefits for the working class.

“We are going to bring an important (bill) in this House (to amend) Bonus Act.The Cabinet has already approved it. This is a very important bill for our workers. We are taking decisions and working for welfare of the labour class,” Modi said while replying to a two-day long debate in the Lok Sabha to commemorate the Constitution Day and the 125th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.

The Cabinet had earlier decided to double the wage ceiling for calculating bonus to Rs 7,000 per month for factory workers and establishments with 20 or more workers.

The bill also seeks to enhance the eligibility limit for payment of bonus from the salary or wage of an employee from Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 21,000.

Modi also said that the government has fixed the minimum pension under the EPF scheme at Rs 1,000 per month.
He said earlier people were getting pensions as low as Rs 7 and Rs 20 per month which was even insufficient to cover the transport cost.

While talking about these issues, Modi hailed Baba Saheb Ambedkar for providing in the Constitution a cap of eight hours a day on working hours for labourers.

The Payment of Bonus Act 1965 is applicable to every factory and other establishment in which 20 or more persons are employed on any day during an accounting year, he said.

As per the Cabinet decision, the new norms would come into force from April 1, 2015. The bill also provides for a new proviso in Section 12 which empowers the central government to vary the basis of computing bonus.

At present, under Section 12, where the salary or wage of an employee exceeds Rs 3,500 per month, the minimum or maximum bonus payable to employees are calculated as if his salary or wage were Rs 3,500 per month.

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/

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Government may effect Bonus Ceiling hike to Rs 21,000 (basic + DA) a month soon – More Central Government Employees to be be covered for payment of Bonus

Ministry of Labour has hinted that the ceiling of Bonus is likely to be hiked from the current ceiling of Rs.10,000 (basic + DA) per month to Rs.21,000 (basic + DA) a month.

After the Bihar elections Union Cabinet may discuss about this ordinance to amend Payments of Bonus Act 1965 to make more employees eligible for annual bonus.

If the Ordinance is approved, those earning up to Rs.21,000 (basic + DA) a month will now be eligible bonus. This would be a steep jump from the current ceiling of Rs.10,000 (basic + DA) per month.

The government is already in the process of revising the minimum wages. The Election Commission has approved the Labour Ministry’s proposal and the Union Cabinet is likely to take up the issue on promulgating ordinance next week. From this year onwards, bonus will be linked to minimum wages.

Ministry in a recent meeting with trade unions said that the government agreed to amend the Bonus Act by enhancing the eligibility ceiling under section 2(13) of the Act from Rs.10,000 per month to Rs.21,000 month. It also agreed to calculate ceiling under section 12 from Rs.3,500 per month to Rs.7,000 per month, or the minimum wage notified by the government for the category of employment.

Trade unions View

All the trade Unions demanded the abolition on ceiling on payment of bonus due to rising inflation, the Government rejected it.

Source: Deccan Herald

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All India Railwaymen’s Federation

No.AIRF/387

Dated: August 23, 2014

Shri Sadananda Gowda,
Hon’ble Minister for Railways,
Rail Bhawan,
New Delhi

Respected Sir,

Sub: Revision of Ceiling for payment of Bonus in the Bonus Act 1965

The Payment of Bonus Act 1965 was amended in the year 2007. This Act was called as Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2007.

In Section 12 of the Principal Act(1965), payment of minimum bonus was revised from Rs.2500 to Rs.3500 w.e.f. 1st April, 2006 through Payment of Bonus(Amendment) Ordinance 2007(8 of 2007) and subsequently passed by the Parliament through Bill No.89/2007. The same was incorporated in the PLB Orders issued for payment of PLB for the year 2006-07 and 2007-08(RBE No.142/2008).

The Ministry of Railways was requested several times by the All India Railwaymen’s Federation for approaching the Government of India for amendment to Section 12 of the Bonus Act 1965 to remove the ceiling of Rs.3500, mentioned in the Section 12 of the Payment of Bonus(Amendment) Act, 2007. But so far Ministry of Railways has not approached the Government of India to amend the Act to pay real wages to the Railwaymen as PLB, which is causing lot of hardship to the Railway Workers due to high escalation of prices of all commodities after the enactment of the amendment to the Bonus Act 1965 in the year 2007.

You are, therefore, requested to consider the plea made by the All India Railwaymen’s Federation and approach the Ministry of Labour, Government of India to amend Section 12 of the Bonus Act, duly removing the ceiling, mentioned in Section 12 of the Payment of Bonus(Amendment ) Act, 2007 so as to enable the Railways to pay real wages as PLB.

As Pooja Festival is approaching fast and orders for payment of Productivity Linked Bonus to Railway employees are likely to be issued shortly, you are requested to approach Hon’ble Minister for Labour to propose an amendment to Section 12 of the Payment of Bonus(Amendment) Act, 2007 to remove the ceiling so as to enable the Railwaymen to get real wages as Bonus.

Yours faithfully,

(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
General Secretary

Source: http://www.airfindia.com/AIRF%202014/PLB%20Letter%20to%20MR.pdf

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