Standing Order Act is applicable to establishments covered by Payment of Wages Act. Many state governments have extended the application of Payment of Wages Act to commercial establishments coming under their respective Shops and Commercial Establishments Act. In Maharashtra even otherwise the Standing Order Act is applicable to commercial establishments covered under their State's Shops and Commercial Establishments Act. Similar is the case in Karnataka though IT companies have been exempted for the time being. Kerala has extended the application of Payment of Wages Act to commercial establishments and thereby covering such establishments under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act. As such sales promotion employees being employees of any commercial establishment within the meaning of Payment of Wages Act per se shall be covered by the Standing Orders of that establishment.
However, the confusion is whether an establishment not being an industrial establishment within the meaning of section 2(e) of the Act, having branches all over India, should have standing order? If yes, should it be one standing order at its head office level and as applicable to all employees across India? I support the views expressed by Umakanthan Sir that an establishment they are employed can be a composite one having factories, registered offices, administrative branches coming thus under the definition of the term " Industrial establishment" u/s 2(e) of the IE(SO)Act,1946. In the ruling of Western India Match Co. Ltd vs Their Workmen ( 1964 AIR 472, 1964) the supreme Court has observed that " The functional integrality, interdependence or community of financial control and management; community of manpower and of its control, recruitment and discipline; the manner in which the employer has organised the different activities; whether he has treated them as independent of one another or as interconnected and interdependent, are some of the tests to find out whether the two units are part of one and the same establishment. The Court further held that the difference in the rules and practice in connection with their recruitment, control and discipline, in the standing orders applicable to them, and in the maintenance of their muster rolls made no difference to the situation." Accordingly, if we see that different activities and operations are for a sole objective all employees who contribute towards that objective shall be covered by the rules set to attain it. Therefore, I don't find anything wrong in including sales promotion employees under standing orders of the company.