Can Casual Laborers Seek Compensation or Legal Action if We Let Them Go? Need Advice!

Dear All,

I need your help, please. We have two casual laborers (housekeeping) who are paid on an hourly basis. Now, we need to fire them as we are unhappy with their work. We want to hire professional housekeeping services. In case we let them go, can they approach the labor court for compensation or get in touch with the union? Do they have any rights to take any action? They are just casual workers with no benefits. They are not even mentioned anywhere in our records.

Please help.

Casual laborers, whether part-time or full-time, are also required to be treated on par with any other employee. If the names of such employees are not shown in the muster rolls, then that is your negligence. The payment vouchers signed by the employees are enough to show that a kind of 'labor-involved' work has been carried out. You have to think twice before action is taken against employees.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Dear Madhu,

Thanks for your comments. That means we cannot fire them, right? If we do, it has to be on the grounds of misbehavior. Can we then fire them?

Please help and provide a solution.

One who hires can definitely fire as well. I meant to say that there should not be any discrimination towards casual laborers. A casual laborer who misbehaves or is negligent shall be warned, and action shall be taken. However, the procedure shall be similar for all employees.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

No need to do anything, just ask them to discontinue from tomorrow. Please do ensure that they were on a casual role only and have not completed 240 days at a stretch.

With thanks,
Asitabha Sanyal