Haryana pushes for change in labour laws, passes 4 Bills

1.The Haryana Vidhan Sabha Wednesday passed the Industrial Disputes (Haryana Amendment) Bill 2016 to allow enterprises with up to 300 employees to lay off workers without the government’s permission. Labour and Employment Minister Capt Abhimanyu moved the Industrial Disputes (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the ongoing budget session which was passed by the House. The House also passed three other Bills concerning labour reforms.

2.Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Haryana Amendment Bill, 2016

The Bill concerning contract labour proposes to do away with the condition of registration for industrial establishments, employing up to 50 workers, under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act 1970. With this, the existing limit of 20 workers was increased to 50 for the purpose of application of the Act in Haryana.

3.Payment of Wages (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2016

With the Payment of Wages Bill, the central government becomes the competent authority to fix or revise wage limits of persons employed in industrial establishments. The existing limit of such wage is Rs 18,000 per month. The amendment was proposed to provide remedy to those who are getting wages at higher rate to enable them to agitate their claim in case of delayed payment of wages or illegal deduction from the wages.

4.Factories (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2016

The amendment approved by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha would enable factories with 20 workers with aid of power and 40 workers without the aid of power to be exempted from the definition of Factories Act, 1948. As per the statement of objects and reasons, orders for supplying the goods are time bound and the factories are to supply the required goods well before the targeted time.