Seeking Guidance on Complex Gratuity and Compensation Issues in Labor Law

Hello seniors, kindly help me with these questions:

1. After retirement, an employee migrated to the USA and he has given Power of Attorney to his wife. Can she claim gratuity? Provide reasons.

2. An employee was involved in the misappropriation of the money of an establishment. The departmental inquiry was ongoing when he tendered his resignation to the employer, which was accepted. Since the employee was responsible for financial irregularity, his gratuity was forfeited by a written order passed by the management.

Is this a legal order as per the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972? Provide reasons.

3. An employee, who was a casual worker, resumed his work at 8 am in the establishment. He was doing manual work. After working for 7 hours, he suddenly fell down and died. The post mortem report stated the cause of death as a heart attack. Can a heart attack in such circumstances be considered an accident?

Is compensation payable by the employer under the EC Act, 1923?

4. An employee working in the establishment, after consuming alcohol, met with an accident. Is any defense available or not?

Who has to prove that the employee consumed alcohol when the accident occurred?

5. An application filed by an adopted son, the second wife, and a wife who remarried after the death of her husband: Is she eligible to receive compensation under the EC Act, 1923?

Waiting for valuable inputs from all seniors.

Thanks & Regards,
Nitesh

Thanks for your questions, which compelled me to make revisions.

Answers to Your Questions

Power of Attorney is an authorization to represent or act on behalf of another person. It gives someone else the right to act legally on one's behalf. Therefore, in my view, the wife can only act on behalf of the employee to claim the gratuity, but she is not entitled to receive the money in her name.

As per Section 4(6) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, gratuity can be forfeited under certain circumstances. Termination of service is an essential criterion under all circumstances. In the given case, there is no termination of service; therefore, the gratuity cannot be forfeited.

There are contradictory judgments by various courts in this regard. It all depends on how the matter is represented. If it is established that the heart attack was due to stress and strain which arose during the course of employment, then compensation is payable, as observed by the Supreme Court in the case of Shanunthala Chandrakant (Appeal (civil) 4778 of 2006).

According to Section 3(1)(b)(i), the employer is not liable to pay compensation if the injury does not result in the death of the employee and the injury is caused by an accident directly attributed to the employee being under the influence of drink or drugs at the time of the accident.

So, in the case of no death, there is no defense. The person who is liable to pay, i.e., the employer, has to prove that the employee was under the influence of drink or drugs at the time of the accident.

In the case of employment injury resulting in death, the compensation is payable to the dependents of the deceased. Dependents are those relatives specified in Section 2(1)(d). According to this section:

- An adopted son is a dependent.
- A widow is a dependent.
- A second wife, if she is legally married to the deceased, then there is no question of refusal.
- Also, there is no question of refusal to the widow who is remarrying.

Hope I have answered you correctly.

Regards

One more question I would like to ask... Please help me with the same.

Nomination and Claim of Gratuity

An employee, during his lifetime, nominated his wife as the nominee by filing a nomination form. Upon the death of the employee, the mother also claimed the amount of gratuity. Can she succeed? Please provide reasons and cite relevant case laws.

Regards.

One more question I would like to ask... Please help me with the same.

Nomination and Gratuity Claim

An employee, during his lifetime, nominated his wife as a nominee by filing a nomination form. Upon the death of the employee, the mother also claimed the amount of gratuity. Can she succeed? Please provide reasons and cite relevant case laws.

Please ask the claimants to bring a succession certificate from the Competent Court along with directions about the payment of the amount.