Does the Minimum Wages Act Cover Casual Employees and Exclude EPF/ESIC Contributions?

As per the Minimum Wages Act, minimum wages specified by the State Government for the Scheduled categories of establishments are required to be paid. I presume this act applies to casual employees and not to employees appointed on a monthly basis. For such employees, there is no minimum pay. I also presume that for employees under the purview of the Minimum Wages Act, no EPF contribution or ESIC contribution is required to be paid. Please confirm my view.

Regards,
B P RAO

Your post is based on a lot of assumptions. To verify these, you need to find a bookstore in your city where legal books are sold. Buy a copy of the Minimum Wages Act applicable to your state. Read it, and then raise queries regarding the sections that you do not understand or have doubts about.

When I checked Google, I found a lot of material on Minimum Wages. Have you read the central law? Before raising a query, you could have done some groundwork. You cannot approach with a clean slate!

Regards,
Dinesh V Divekar

Agreed with Mr. Rao. In addition to that, I also quote, as far as minimum wages are concerned, it is only the component of basic + DA. It is applied to all categories of workmen, whether they are casual or permanent. Payment of wages can only be as per minimum wages in all respects. As far as EPF/ESIC is concerned, EPF is deducted on basic + DA and ESIC is deducted on gross salary (inclusive of all allowances). Bear in mind that the basic salary can't or should never be less than the minimum wages of the state defined from time to time as per the price index.

Thanks & Regards,
Sumit Kumar Saxena

I agree with both of my colleagues that instead of assuming or presuming, if you could have gone through the bare Acts of the Minimum Wages Act, PF Act, and ESI Act, half of your doubts would have been cleared. The preambles of these Acts clearly spell out their objectives. For your information, I would like to tell you that no employer is allowed to pay less than the minimum wages to any employee, whether it be a casual laborer or a monthly paid employee. The notifications declared under the Minimum Wages Act contain per day as well as monthly rates of wages, including those for piece-rated workers.

Applicability of PF and ESI Acts

As regards the PF and ESI Acts, these are different Acts. You have to examine the applicability of each Act vis-a-vis the establishment.

Regards,
BS Kalsi
Member since Aug 2011