Gratuity Payment Delayed: How Can We Legally Ensure My Father-in-Law Gets His Due?

Hi Team, My father-in-law worked for a cooperative distillery and retired in October 2014. Until now, he has not received the gratuity payment, and officials in the local office do not provide any specific reason for the delay. Recently, we learned from one of the employees that the manager has withheld the payment, and the payment for the same has been received by the local office from the distillery federation. Whenever we meet the manager, he gives lame excuses and sets a future date for a meeting. We want to know if we have a legal option to get the payment done at the earliest.

Regards, Manish Singh

Dear Manish,

Kindly get in touch with the local gratuity office in your location. As per law, it should have been paid to him within 30 days of retirement. File a complaint with the Local Gratuity Office.

Regards,
Ashutosh Thakre

The Gratuity Controller in Bangalore would be the Chief Labour Commissioner. Go there and speak to them. They will tell you what forms to complete and submit.

Dear Manish,

Please tell your father-in-law to submit Form-I to his employer and send a copy to the LC/Dy LC of your zone. You will soon receive a call from the employer.

Thank you.

Dear Manish, My sincere request to all the querists, including you, is that whenever you start a thread, please do not forget to provide all the inputs relating to your query. This will enable the senior members to offer correct and appropriate advice. In your case, even though some members have replied presuming that your father-in-law has worked for more than five years in the organization, making him eligible for gratuity payment.

My second request to the members who attempt to reply is that they should familiarize themselves with the Acts and state rules before giving advice. For example, one member suggested filing a complaint with the Local Gratuity Office. I am certain that none of the governments have established such offices exclusively for handling gratuity payment cases. Such responses can confuse and puzzle the querists. I have no intention of offending anyone's feelings, only a sincere request.

Moving on to the Query

You can advise your father-in-law to submit an application in Form-I to the office of the Controlling Authority, provided he is eligible as discussed earlier. I recommend referring to your State's Payment of Gratuity Rules, as the application form may not be 'I' but could be slightly different. This will give you an idea of the specific authority that deals with these cases.

Best regards,
BS Kalsi

Mr. Kazi, despite his lengthy post on how members do not check rules before posting, seems to have done the same himself.

The form for application for gratuity in Karnataka is Form I. There is no change in the state rules. The forms are available on the government website here: http://labour.kar.nic.in/labour/paym...uity-rules.pdf

And incidentally, the actual place for lodging a complaint is as follows:

Claim or Complaints: Any claim or complaint under the Act shall be filed before the Assistant Labour Commissioner of the area concerned. The Deputy Labour Commissioner of the area concerned is the Appellate Authority. If the employer fails to pay gratuity, it can be recovered as arrears of land revenue. Penalties are prescribed in the Act for violations.

The Labour Office in every state has an office dedicated to solving the Gratuity queries. So if any company does not pay the gratuity within the stipulated time of 30 days, then there is redressal.

All the Labour offices have this Gratuity cell. The Government has every right to make this cell exclusively for the gratuity queries as per the act. It's the act that makes it mandatory to do so.

Regards,
Ashutosh Thakre

Dear Raj Dubey,

The querist has not mentioned the place of work or the place of occurrence of the non-payment of gratuity to his father-in-law. It was for that reason that I advised him to refer to the State Payment of Gratuity Rules. Sh. Saswata Banerjee has rightly confirmed that the Form-I is the same as given in the Central rules. Thanks & Regards to him.

BS Kalsi

Hi Singmanis,

According to the Payment of Gratuity Act, an employee should be paid within 30 days from his retirement. So, if there is a delay from the management side with false statements, then you are entitled to claim your gratuity with compound interest. If it is a fault from your side in providing requirements, then you can't file a case. Please get in touch with the labor office.

Thank you all for the suggestions. We have received a letter from the cooperative distillery's local office stating that the issue would be resolved in 1 month. They have not mentioned any reason for the delay. We will update the details soon. I think it would be good to complain if we don't get a response after one month.