With reference to casual workers employed in India, consider the following statements:
- All casual workers are entitled for Employees Provident Fund coverage.
- All casual workers are entitled for regular working hours and overtime payment.
- The government can by a notification specify that an establishment or industry shall pay wages only through its bank account.
Which of the above statements are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2021 Prelims]
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer: (b)
Explanation:
Provident Fund Act, 1952
- The Act does not distinguish between a person employed on a permanent, temporary, contractual, or casual basis under Section 2 (f) of the EPF Act. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
- According to the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950, when a worker works in employment for more than nine hours on any day or for more than forty-eight hours in any week, he shall in respect of overtime work, be entitled to wages –
- In the case of employment in agriculture, at one and a half times the ordinary rate of wages.
- In the case of any other scheduled employment, at double the ordinary rate of wages. Hence statement 2 is correct.
- The Central government has notified the amendment under section 6 of The Payment of Wages Act, 2017, with the provision that “the appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the industrial or another establishment, the employer of which shall pay to every person employed in such industrial or another establishment, the wages only by cheque or by crediting the wages in his bank account”. Hence statement 3 is correct.
