Gratuity Eligibility: Do 4 Years and 11 Months Qualify for Benefits?

I have completed 4 years and 11 months in one of the firms. Am I eligible for the gratuity benefits or not?

Yes, you are eligible for gratuity.

Can anyone confirm if a person who has completed 4 years and 11 months is eligible for gratuity? Our HR department states that according to the law, they are not eligible.

Most companies have regulations for five years. I would advise you to please go through your company policies, and if utmost necessity arises, consult a lawyer!

Dear Ma-Umi,

Minimum 5 years required

To be eligible for gratuity, an employee needs to have completed at least 5 years of service with the company.

Rounding off

If you have worked for a period exceeding 5 years but not reaching 6 years (like 5 years and 11 months), it will be rounded down to 5 years for gratuity calculation.

Can you ask your HR what section of the law states that gratuity will not be given if someone completes 4 years and 11 months of service?

Please review the attached message regarding the gratuity payment.

My Personal, that judgment is meant to clarify the rounding of the number of years for the computation of the amount of gratuity. The act is very clear on the eligibility, which is 5 completed years of service, except in the case of death.

Eligibility for Gratuity Benefits

The payment of gratuity occurs after the completion of five years of continuous service. In your case, you have completed four years and eleven months of the fifth year. According to the judgment, if one has completed 240 days of working in the fifth year, it is considered continuous. You need to file the claim with the company through the controlling authority. If it is not considered, you can file a case in court.

You will be eligible if the High Court (HC) of your state has issued a judgment similar to that of the Madras or Kerala HC. Otherwise, you are at the mercy of your company's policy. The reason is that there is no provision in the Gratuity Act or any Supreme Court decision on this issue.

Thanks for all of your kind advice and updates. I even inquired with the Labor Office in Mangalore. One of the staff members there mentioned that, as per the High Court law, 5 years need to be completed for gratuity eligibility. Applications may get rejected if submitted earlier. I am unsure if the High Court laws differ among states.

Our HR department has not responded. It has been exactly one month pending for 5 years; I was unaware that High Court rules had changed regarding gratuity. Previously, when I searched online, I found that gratuity eligibility started from 4 years and 7 months onwards. Based on this information, I made the decision to leave the organization. Now, they are stating that the latest High Court rules apply. Is this accurate?

Dear MA-Umi, The labor office opinion is their own. It is important to consider how the Madras High Court arrived at its decision, which seems valid. One should contest the case as per the Madras High Court orders in their respective state High Court because there is a chance since the order of the Madras High Court has never been challenged in the Supreme Court.

In the circumstances pointed out by various opinions on the query, I have a suggestion for you. You should file your claim form with your office and send a copy to the Competent Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act and await their response. Once you receive their responses, you can take follow-up action, including seeking intervention of the High Court citing various judgments on the subject so that the verdict may either be accepted or, if necessary, appealed up to the Supreme Court. Such actions will help employees in cases like yours.

All the best.

Yes, the employee is eligible for gratuity as per the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, if they have completed 4 years and 240 days of continuous service in the fifth year. Here's a detailed explanation:

Criteria for Gratuity Eligibility:

The employee must have completed 5 years of continuous service with the employer. However, as per judicial interpretations (e.g., the Madras High Court and Kerala High Court rulings), 240 days in the fifth year are considered equivalent to completing a full year of service under the Act.

Breakdown:

Continuous Service: If an employee works for at least 240 days in a year (including the fifth year), it is deemed as a completed year. If the employee has completed 4 years and 240 days in the fifth year, they are eligible for gratuity, even though they haven't completed a full 5 calendar years.

Exceptions:

For establishments following a 6-day workweek, 240 days is the threshold. For establishments with a 5-day workweek, the threshold is reduced to 190 days in the fifth year.

If the employee has completed 4 years and 11 months (provided it includes at least 240 days of service in the fifth year), they are eligible for gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act.

Today, I consulted the labor office in our area. The concerned staff informed me that two cases were rejected by Mrs. Jyothi, HC Bangalore, citing clause number 4.

Payment of gratuity

(1) Gratuity shall be payable to an employee upon the termination of their employment after they have rendered continuous service for not less than five years,

(a) on their superannuation, or
(b) on their retirement or resignation, or
(c) on their death or disablement due to accident or disease.

HC Bangalore disregarded clause 2 in the Act and directly rejected the claims previously. However, in cases like these, how should we proceed? Labor officers in our area empathize with genuine cases that deserve approval; instead of pursuing justification, they halted two cases.

Ma-Umi, the case is very much dependent upon the pleading advocate. Your point of argument should align with the definition of the fifth-year decision made by the Madras High Court. This is the only counter line for the case.

I may add,

The concept of 5th-year service and the minimum number of working days

The concept of 5th-year service and the minimum number of working days was deliberated by the Court in LALAPPA LINGAPPA & ORS V. LAXMI VISHNU TEXTILE MILLS LTD., SHOLAPUR [1981] RD-SC 29 (11 February 1981) and one more. Many of these references have already been discussed in the forum in the past as well. I hope these judgments can also be used to drive home your claim for gratuity. I also believe your advocates have done their homework to cull out relevant references in support of your claims. Relevant texts are attached.