Firms force employees to take paid leaves
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 09 April 2009, 19:40 IST   |    4 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
Firms force employees to take paid leaves
Pune: The recession has made several companies force their employees to take paid leaves instead of pink slips. "Very few companies are able to satisfy all the 23 conditions of the labor commissionerate, a mandatory requirement to do the layoff. That is why they have taken to this recourse," said Arvind Shrouti, representative of Chinchwad-based firm Option Positive, which offers legal counsel. The firms are asking workers to take paid leave under the Industrial Employments (Standing Orders) Act, instead of applying with the labor commissionerate to implement a lay-off under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1948, reports The Indian Express. The employees are reacting against it, calling it an 'illegal lay off' as they are ineligible for lay-off compensation and they are also losing salary by way of the paid leave. "Workers have been asked to apply for leave, or our wages may be deducted," said a union representative of a firm, who makes metered gauges. The trend of offering paid leave comes in the wake of a court ruling in favor of a company that have stopped work for six days in December-January. The court maintained that the stoppage of work by the company JCB Manufacturing was legal under the Industrial Employments (Standing Orders) Act. Ashok Gupte, who represented JCB Manufacturing, admitted that two other companies have approached him to implement stoppage of work where workers will be asked to take paid leave. The Labor Commission, however, has no say on the paid leave saga till a complaint is registered. "The companies and workers approach us only if they are not able to agree. If the workers agree to take leave, then we do not receive the case," said D P Pagar, Deputy Labour Commissioner.

siliconindia