Why Do Companies Include DA in Workers' Salaries but Not Staff? Let's Discuss the Reasons and Implications

cjviji
Dear Citehr members,

I have noticed that several companies are including DA as a component of the salary breakup for workers, while they are not including DA in their staff's salary breakup. Why is there this difference between workers and staff? Are there any legal implications? Are there any advantages for staff, workers, and management?

Please reply.

Regards,
Viji
bhardwaj_ch1
Staff (from technicians to junior engineers, engineers, officers, senior officers, executives, managers, and up to the top level including the Managing Director), as employees, are on the payroll along with the CEO. Workers (unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled) are mostly referred to as those on contract basis.

Please let me know if you need any further assistance.
Madhu.T.K
Legally, there is no difference between workers and staff. In fact, you cannot see the word 'staff' in any legal document or Act. One who works for the organization for a remuneration called 'wages' or 'salary' is a worker or employee. There are Acts which distinguish workmen as 'covered' and 'not covered' and employees coming under the Act who purely do supervisory and administrative jobs.

In practice and conventionally, those who work for a lesser amount of remuneration are treated as workers, and those who mainly do administrative work and are involved in supervising jobs are treated as 'staff' members. A more advanced version of staff emerged with the IT boom is 'professionals'.

These distinctions are relative and will change from establishment to establishment. A Foreman, who is a staff as per the above description of a small-scale organization, will be treated only as a workman when he takes up employment in a large-scale organization. It changes from situation to situation as well. It is human nature that when the management takes disciplinary action against a manager, he inclines himself to be seen as a workman.

When the economy started declining and the IT sector faced problems, many 'professionals' have now started considering the possibility of being treated as 'workmen' under the Industrial Disputes Act or other Acts!

Regarding Dearness Allowance, since the DA is expected to reflect the cost of living, there should not be any difference in treatment. Many companies pay DA to the workmen only because DA is a mandatory component of Minimum Wages applicable. Since supervisory and managerial staff members do not come within the purview of minimum wages, they are paid an all-inclusive salary.

Regards,

Madhu.T.K
tkktokala
Dear Madhu,

As you discussed, whether DA is payable to contract employees who work under a contractor and have ESI & PF deductions.

Thank you.
Madhu.T.K
DA is essentially a part of the salary, and the contract employees who work under a contractor should also be paid DA according to the cost of living index. It is the responsibility of the principal employer to ensure that the contractor pays DA as per the Minimum Wages applicable.

Regards, Madhu.T.K
divya hygienic research
Is it necessary to increase or pay DA if we increase the net salary of the workers... Can anyone please help me on this???

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Is it necessary to increase or pay DA if we increase the net salary of the workers? Can anyone please help me with this?
Madhu.T.K
DA increase will take place automatically with an increase in the cost of living. Therefore, no further revision is required to be made in DA whenever there is a salary revision. This is the case of VARIABLE DA. In the case of Fixed DA, which is granted as a percentage of Basic Salary, the DA increases whenever the basic salary increases.

It is also possible to revise the salary as an interim measure to meet the increasing cost of living by increasing the DA point. That is, if the present VDA is Rs 2.50 per consumer price index above 400 points (under the old series), it can be revised as Rs 2.85/Rs 3/Rs 3.5, etc., so that every point of CPI over 400 will attract VDA at the rate of Rs 2.85/3/3.5, etc.

Similarly, if the Fixed DA is 85% of the Basic, there can be a revision of DA from 85% to 90% or from 93% to revise the salary. These revisions depend upon the management policy. But as per statute, an establishment is supposed to follow the system of VDA, which varies as per the cost of living index.

Regards,

Madhu.T.K
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