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Daily wager cannot claim parity with regular employee: SC
New Delhi, July 15: In a major ruling, the Supreme Court has held that a daily wager cannot claim pay parity with a regular employee even if he was carrying out the same kind of job assigned to the latter.
New Delhi, July 15: In a major ruling, the Supreme Court has held that a daily wager cannot claim pay parity with a regular employee even if he was carrying out the same
kind of job assigned to the latter.
Differentiating between a daily wager and a regular employee, a bench comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat said "a scale of pay is attached to a definite post and in case of a daily wager, he holds no posts."
This ruling was given by the apex court while setting aside a judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordering regularisation of the services of 35 helpers working in the Haryana Roadways. These helpers, who claimed that they were paid the same salary as paid to regular employees since the nature of work done by them was similar, invoked the principle of "equal pay for equal work,” which was accepted by the High Court.
Terming the High Court order as "indefensible", Justice Pasayat, writing the judgement for the bench, said "equal pay for equal work" was a concept which for the purpose of implementation would require complete and wholesome equality between two groups of employees.
"The problem about equal pay cannot always be translated into a mathematical formula," he said. However, the court asked the Haryana government to ensure that minimum wages were prescribed for the daily wagers and the same was paid to them.
Bureau Report
This ruling was given by the apex court while setting aside a judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordering regularisation of the services of 35 helpers working in the Haryana Roadways. These helpers, who claimed that they were paid the same salary as paid to regular employees since the nature of work done by them was similar, invoked the principle of "equal pay for equal work,” which was accepted by the High Court.
Terming the High Court order as "indefensible", Justice Pasayat, writing the judgement for the bench, said "equal pay for equal work" was a concept which for the purpose of implementation would require complete and wholesome equality between two groups of employees.
"The problem about equal pay cannot always be translated into a mathematical formula," he said. However, the court asked the Haryana government to ensure that minimum wages were prescribed for the daily wagers and the same was paid to them.
Bureau Report