The Ministry of Labour and Employment vide notification dated 23rd March 2020 has issued an advisory to the employers of public and private establishments to not terminate the employees/workers or reduce their wages, particularly of the workers who are engaged on a casual or contractual basis. If any employee/worker takes leave he should be deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages.
The advisory further stated that “if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due to the Covid-19, the employees of such unit will be deemed to be on duty”. This means that if any establishment is closed due to a positive case of Covid-19 virus in the premises then the employees will be considered to be ‘on duty’ and not on leave.
The termination of employees from the job or reduction in wages in this scenario would further deepen the crises. It will not only weaken the financial condition of the employee but also hamper their morale to combat their fight with this epidemic.
Click here to read the Advisory.
