Salary Cut during lock down

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This discussion explores whether private employers can legally cut employee salaries during a lockdown, even if staff are working from home. While employers may argue reduced performance and business impact, government advisories suggest employees working from home or whose workplaces are closed due to COVID-19 should be considered on duty without wage deductions. The situation and obligations might vary slightly between manufacturing, service, and trade industries.

ruchira

ruchira (Querist)
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14 April 2020 Hello,

Can a Employer cut the employees salary during lock down even though the employees are working from home? If the Employer is a Private Establishment. Is there any legal obligation? is there any separate obligation for manufacturing, service and trade industry

Please reply.

CA Suresh Jain

CA Suresh Jain (Expert)
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14 April 2020 If you are working from home as per the instructions of your employer then there is on question of holding your salary

ruchira

ruchira (Querist)
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16 April 2020 Sir,

The employer is of the opinion that as all the staff are not able to work from home , the performance of employees working from home is not 100% and there is no business during the lock down they will pay only 50% of the salary and defer the balance 50% payment. The balance 50% salary will be paid only if the organization achieves the turnover as previous year

KAVIRAJA ADDANGADI

KAVIRAJA ADDANGADI (Expert)
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16 April 2020 the Labour Ministry issued advisories to the employers’ associations not to terminate their employees (especially precarious workers) and reduce wages for their absences, among others. Curiously, the advisory assumes a legal dimension when it says: if the workers take leave during the lockdown period they should be “deemed to be on duty without any consequential deduction in wages…Further if the place of employment is to be made non-operational due to COVID-19, the employees of such unit (sic) will be deemed to be on duty.”

CA Suresh Jain

CA Suresh Jain (Expert)
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17 April 2020 Many companies have started reduction in salary instead to giving increment

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