SC to hear opposing PILs on layoff, salary cuts

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:27.04.2020

Two PILs espousing diametrically opposite causes — one seeking protection of employees from loss of jobs and salary cuts and the other by an association of industrial employers challenging the government directive to pay full wages during the lockdown — will be taken up for hearing by the Supreme Court this week.

The one favouring employees was filed by advocate Rajesh Inamdar and National Information Technology Employees Sena (NITES) secretary Harpreet Saluja, who sought a direction from the SC to all private and public sector companies to implement the labour ministry’s March 20 advisory not to lay off/terminate employees or cut their salaries during the lockdown caused by Covid-19.

They clarified that the PIL did not intend to burden employers. “But the court needs to strike a balance between private contractual right and public duty so as not to give rise to a gross humanitarian disaster that would ensue from largescale termination of jobs during a pandemic situation,” the petitioners said, and named companies in Gurgaon, Noida, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune which have given termination notices to more than two lakh employees and also resorted to salary cuts up to 50% for the remaining employees.

“The Centre and the state governments must ensure that employees engaged in private sector are not terminated and are able to draw at least subsistence salary. Several private companies have initiated process to illegally terminate services of employees, many through communication over phone, or withheld their salaries in breach of government orders, which could be a punishable offence under Disaster Management Act, 2005,” the petitioners said.

In contrast, Mumbai-based ‘Twin City Industrial Employers Association’, through secretary M M Behrani, challenged the home ministry’s March 29 order and the Maharashtra government’s March 31 directive asking private establishments to pay full salary to all workers/employees, contractual or casual, during the lockdown.

“Because of stoppage of operations since March 25 due to lockdown, members of the petitioner association have suffered huge losses,” the association said.

It asked the SC to determine whether the Union and Maharashtra governments had competence and jurisdiction to direct private establishments, like the petitioner association and its members, to pay 100% wages under Disaster Management Act to employees during the lockdown.

A Mumbai based employers association has challenged the government directive to pay full wages during the lockdown