THE PAYMENT OF WAGES (AMENDMENT) BILL 213
Coming to clause 3, it is a clause which makes two amendments to the present section 5. As the Honourable Members will remember, section 5 is a section which prescribes the period during which wages must be paid ; and for the purpose of prescribing the period for the payment of wages, the section divides factories into two categories. In one category are placed factories which employ workmen whose number is less than 1,000. In the second category are placed factories which employ more than 1,000 employees. After making this division, the section provides that in the factories which come into category No. 1, payment must be made within 7 days, while in the case of the latter the limit of the period is prescribed to be 10 days. In actual practice it has been found difficult to observe the terms of this section, and the reason for that is very simple. The division of the factories is based upon the number of employees. As the House will realise, the number of workmen is never a constant figure ; it always changes. For instance, if the number of employees goes down by one, the category automatically shifts from category No. 1 to category No. 2. Similarly, if the number of employees is increased by one, category No. 2 goes into category No. 1. It is believed—and I think very rightly—that this discriminating principle is neither very just nor administratively feasible. Consequently what the amendment seeks to do is to abolish this distinction whereby the factories have been divided into two categories and adopt the general principle that in all factories, irrespective of the number of employees that are working there, there shall be a uniform rule, namely, that the payment must be made within ten days. The second amendment which clause 3 seeks to make is also, as the House will see, very necessary. In section 5, provision is made for the payment of an employee who is discharged from service. The section as it stands today provides that the payment to a discharged employee should be on the second working day. Now, Sir, if the Payment of Wages Act was only applicable to perennial factories which are working throughout the day, there can be no difficulty arising from the section as it stands now. But in the case of seasonal factories, the difficulty that would arise is absolutely genuine because, supposing an employee was discharged on the last working day of the factory and the factory being a seasonal factory was closed down thereafter, then the second working day would come after a long interval which it would