Equal Remuneration Act Confusion: Who Exactly Qualifies as a "Worker"?

While maintaining Form D under the Equal Remuneration Act, should all categories of employees be included in the data, or should only non-supervisory and non-managerial employees (who normally fit the criteria of workmen) be included? The above question has emerged as Equal Remuneration has not defined the term "worker" elaborately. Please clarify.

Under normal circumstances, wherever the term "workman" or "worker" is used, it is deemed to refer to those employed in non-supervisory roles. Moreover, Section 2(j) of the Equal Remuneration Act also specifies that words and expressions not defined shall have the meanings as given in the Industrial Disputes Act. Therefore, it should be interpreted that "worker" shall have the same meaning as defined in Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

Thank you, Sir. This was very helpful. Our organization received a notice from the LEO (central) regarding the failure to maintain Form D under the ER Act for all managerial posts. However, I was confident that it is only required to be maintained for workers, i.e., non-managerial staff. With your assistance, I can now explain that the reference can be made to the ID Act.

Once again, thank you.

Best regards,
Priyanka

There is no periodicity provided for maintaining Form D as prescribed under the ERA. However, the same is to be maintained/updated whenever there is a change in the establishment with respect to the entries to be made therein, i.e., the number of employees, their salary, etc.

Inclusion of All Cadres of Employees

The Form D is required to include all cadres of employees irrespective of whether they are ordinary workers or working in a supervisory managerial capacity. However, in the column "category of workers," you can distinguish between different employees/workers as per their job profile. For example, if there are two workers, and both are skilled but one is a machineman and the other is a lathe man, you can distinguish between them and enumerate their respective work/duties in column no. 2, i.e., a brief description of work.

Regards