By virtue of section 2(13) of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, an apprentice is not an employee and as such an apprentice is not eligible for any kind of profit sharing bonus or incentive (section 13(2) of the Apprentice Act, 1961).Similarly, as per Apprentice Act, section 18, the provisions of any labour law will not apply to apprentices. BUT, inorder to be exempted from these, the trainee should have been hired for training following the provisions of Apprentice Act, 1961. As such an employer is supposed to take trainees in designated trades only and that also from the panel of ex ITIs given for this purpose and after entering in to a contract of training with the trainee/ guardian. The period of training will be strictly limited to one year. All others will be regarded as employees, by what ever name designated.
Regards,
Madhu.T.K