Dealing with Payment Dispute for Underaged Employee Termination

An employee has been terminated from the services just after 4 days of joining the company. The reason is that the employee is underage (17 years).

The problem is the employee's parent is asking for 4 days' salary. Should it be paid or not?

Thanks & Regards,
Chandrika

Hi, Ms. Chandrika,

As you were the one who employed the candidate and subsequently terminated the employee, it is your obligation to pay the wages.

Dear Chandrika,

Your query is irksome. Let me believe that this has happened in your company.

Why should you employ somebody who is under-aged at all? This instance indicates that you need to refurbish your recruitment process. Without proper document checks, who employed that person? What action will you take against the recruiter for this goof up?

The second issue is whether you should pay that person. If you take work from anyone, then why is that person not eligible for remuneration? Why would you like to deprive that person of their rightful dues?

In all probability, let me believe that the case involves some office boy or helper. These individuals are voiceless. Hence, your company has the audacity to withhold wages from them. If it had been an international or even national level consultant, they would have pressured you into giving them an advance, and your company would have obliged. This illustrates the difference between the rich and the poor!

Dinesh V Divekar

An employee has been terminated from the services just after 4 days of joining the company. The reason is that the employee is underaged (17 years old).

The problem is that the employee's parent is asking for 4 days' salary. Should it be paid or not?

Thanks & Regards,

Chandrika

Hi,

Why do you worry about this simple matter? Just pay the parent the 4 days' wages under some petty account (consult your accounts section) and close the subject. After all, they only need money, nothing more.

Dear Ms. Chandrika,

It is the duty of the employer to verify the minimum essential qualifications of age, education, experience, etc., of a prospective candidate at the recruitment stage itself before his appointment. Well, inadvertence somewhere in the process caused this blunder, but you noticed it later and set it right by terminating him. Since there is no mention about the type of your establishment or the nature of the individual's job or the suppression of the fact of actual age is attributable on the part of the candidate, no comments about the legality of the appointment. Anyway, it may be a violation of the rules of recruitment of the company, and if not corrected, the appointing authority would be in trouble and hence the termination after 4 days of work, okay? As a boy of 17 years of age, he is an adolescent and as such eligible for industrial employment if not specifically barred by any special law applicable to your establishment. Illegal appointment, though cannot be continued, would not result in deprivation of wages for the period of service rendered. So, pay the wages for the 4 days of work as permitted by your A/C norms as suggested by Mr. Kumar.

Kindly review the corrected version above.

No questions on non-payment.

Why should someone else suffer for the company's mistakes?
Why should someone be denied wages for work?

In my opinion, apart from just outstanding wages, the person deserves some additional compensation too, for not making it an embarrassing issue for the company.

Warm regards.

Hello Chandrika,

As others have mentioned, it is the duty of the employer to pay the employee for the number of days he has worked. The reason for termination can be any, but he cannot be deprived of the compensation for which he/she has worked. It is not clear if the employee has intentionally hidden his actual age by producing false certificates or not. If not, then this was a case of negligence from the employer's side, which was later rectified. Hence, the person must be paid for sure.

Regards, Praveen.

Hi,

As a person who has worked for your organization, for how many days should he be given his remuneration? I have a question: did you not check the age of the employee during recruitment, or did he provide you with incorrect information?

Madam:

If you have made the person work, it is only fair to pay for the work as already pointed out by other members on the thread. Probably your apprehension is that how can I pay legally for an illegal employment...

Well, under Shops and Establishments Acts of respective states and under the Indian Factories Act, it is perfectly legal to employ someone who has completed 14 years of age. Such a person is called a young person (as opposed to an adult) and is subjected to lesser working hours, easier work norms, etc. You may like to read the relevant provisions to have a better perspective.

Employment under 14 years is banned as it constitutes child labour. Thus, to conclude, you are not illegal in employing this 17-year-old. But it's always better to hire an adult who can sign their own contract of employment and even better to be attentive while making any hiring decisions!

Cheers

Dear Chandrika,

Did you get this resolved? What did you hire the talent for? Long time back, I worked for a very small firm where a high school student was hired as a part-time employee. This boy had lost his father, hence the owner of the firm decided to support the family by employing him for a few hours and training him in skills that would earn him more.

The payment was made through vouchers. I didn't have access to the actual finance documents, but I guess it was shown under the sundry expenses/petty cash.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

The age of the employee is 17 years. He is an adolescent, so payment has to be made.