Outsourced drivers - whether the salaries and wages should be payable under the scope of minimum wages?

In the case of heavy-duty drivers outsourced to a logistics company, whether the salaries and wages should be payable under the scope of minimum wages applicable under the classification of Motor Vehicles sector or it should be paid under the shops and establishment Act since the logistics back office is registered under the Shops and establishments Act.

Dear Ramesh Venkatraman,

You may check the provisions of the various acts to your state. These are:

a) THE MOTOR TRANSPORT WORKERS ACT - 1961

b) For the "FAQ under the Motor Transport Workers Act" of the above act, you may click here.

c) Minimum Wages Notification

Check the wages in either act and pay whichever is maximum.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear Ramesh,

From your narrative, it appears that you depute the services of your heavy-duty drivers to the Logistics Co on contract basis.

If it is correct, you are the contractor of man power supply , the Logistics Co. is the principal employer and the drivers deputed are contract labor under the provisions of the CLRA Act,1970. This is the nature of employment relations among all the three parties emerging from the contract for service between the Logistics Co. and yours.

By virtue of its business operations, the parent labor law applicable to the Logistics Co. is the Motor Transports Workers Act,1961.
Though your back office is an establishment under the Shops and Establishments Act, when these drivers are deputed to the MTW Establishment as contract labor, as long as they work there they are MT workers only and their service conditions would be covered by the provisions of the MTWA,1961 and all other allied labor laws applicable to that MTW establishment including the Minimum Wages Act,1948.

Therefore, so long as these drivers work in the Logistics Co. as contract labor, they should be paid at the rate of minimum wages applicable to the Motor Transport workers.