Insights on Payment of Bonus Act, CTC Structure, and Ex-gratia Payments

Dear Friends,

There is a proposal of Bill on the Payment of Bonus Act, 2014. In this proposal, the following changes are likely to take place:

1. A proposal to increase the eligibility limit from Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 18,000/-.
2. A proposal to increase the calculation ceiling from Rs. 3,500/- to Rs. 6,000/-
3. Furthermore, there might be some chances of increasing the percentile of the minimum bonus from 8.33% to 11%.

Let us expect some positive changes in the near future.

Dear Sir,

Is there any notification so far regarding the Bonus Act? If so, please share.

Thanks and regards,
Bijay

Hi there,

I would like to seek the expert opinion on the following query:

At present, in my monthly CTC, the Ex-gratia/bonus component is included, which is retained by the company, and the accumulated amount is paid once a year during Diwali. If someone leaves the company, can the amount of ex-gratia be lapsed, or should it be paid along with F&F?

As per my understanding, if the Ex-gratia component is included in the Monthly CTC, it means that it is considered a committed amount to the employee and must be paid irrespective of the company's loss/profit and the employee's service tenure. For example, XYZ's monthly CTC is 50000/-, which includes 1500/- as Ex-gratia, retained by the company on a monthly basis. The accumulated amount (from April to March) is refunded every Diwali. If XYZ serves the company for 3 years and leaves in the month of May, can the amount retained from April last year to May of the current year towards Ex-gratia be forfeited by claiming that the employee is not available until Diwali? Please advise!

Thank you.

Dear Sudha Acharya,

Your monthly salary is above Rs. 10,000. Hence, you are not eligible for any bonus. For ex-gratia, it depends on the company's policy, and the ex-gratia is paid to employees based on their previous performance with the expectation to perform well in the future. In your case, the ex-gratia component may be good enough to consider for payment of ex-gratia, but as you have resigned, there are chances for refusal of the same. It depends on your company's policy.

If the ex gratia amount is shown as payable without any condition like "subject to company policy," then it is payable annually proportionate to the months/days worked. It is possible that in order to attract talents, the company would have shown such variables in the salary break up and given a nickname, viz, CTC for the salary. But the companies do not know the actual costs they have to bear if one files a suit for recovery of such amounts. Unfortunately, this kind of gimmick in pay structure is available only in new generation companies or new generation HR. It is always good to have a transparent pay structure wherein the employee will understand what he is going to get at the end of the month. When we proudly say that the HR has grown to such a summit that it is no longer the old Personnel management and we build relations, we create harmony among work, we maintain 100% transparency, etc., I wonder what relation these new generation HRs are building, what harmony they create, how can they say that the present HR is transparent? Is there any degree of transparency? I doubt. If there has been any transparency, this kind of element would not be there in the salary break up. Moreover, it is due to this that people will have more concerns about what they get by month end.

Madhu.T.K