Updated: Sunday July 04, 2010/AlAhad
Rajab 23, 1431/Ravivara
Asadha 13, 1932, at 10:45:27 AM
The Payment of Wages’ Act, 1936
(IV OF 1936)
23rd April, 1936
An Act to regulate the payment of wages to certain
classes of persons employed in industry:---
Preamble. Whereas it is expedient to regulate the
payment of wages to certain classes of persons employed in industry; It is
hereby enacted as follows:---
1. Short title. Extent, commencement and
application.-- (1) This Act may be called the payment of Wages Act, 1936.
(2) It extends to the whole of
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the
Federal Government may by notification in the official Gazette, appoint.
(4) It applies in the first instance to the payment of
wages to persons employed in any factory and to persons employed otherwise than
in a factory upon any railway by a railway administration or, either directly
or through a sub-contractor, by a person fulfilling a contract with a railway
administration.
(5) The Provincial Government may after giving three
months” notice of its intention of so doing, by notification in the official
Gazette, extend the provisions of the Act or any of them to the payment of
wages to any class of persons employed in any industrial establishment or any
class or group of industrial establishments.
(6) Nothing in this Act shall apply to wages payable
in respect of a wage-period, which, over such wage-period, averaged more than
[one thousand five hundred] rupees a month.
2. Definition.--- In this Act, unless there is
anything repugnant in the subject or context,---
(i) “factory” means a factory as defined in clause (i)
of section 2 of the Factories Act, 1934 (XXV of 1934);
(ii) “Industrial establishment” means any,---
(a) tramway or motor omnibus service;
(b) dock, wharf or jetty;
(c) inland steam-vessel;
(d) mine, quarry or oil-field;
(e) plantation;
(f) workshop or other establishment in which articles
are produced, adapted or manufactured, with a view to their use, transport or
sale;
[(g) establishment of a contractor who, directly or
indirectly, employs persons [x x x] to do any skilled or unskilled, manual or
clerical labour for hire or reward in connection with the execution of a
contract to which he is a party, and includes the premises in which or the site
at which, any process connected with such execution is carried on.
Explanation. “Contractor” includes a “sub-contractor,
headman or agent.”].
(iii) “plantation” means any estate which is
maintained for the purpose of growing cinchona, rubber, coffee or tea, and on
which twenty-five or more persons are employed for that purpose;
(iv) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under
this Act;
(v) “railway administration” has the meaning assigned
to it in clause (6) of Section 3 of the Railways Act, 1890 (IX of 1890); and
(vi) “wages” means all remuneration, capable of being
expressed in terms of money, which would, if the terms of the contract of
employment, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable, whether
conditionally upon the regular attendance, good work or conduct or other
behaviour of the person employed or otherwise, to a person employed in respect
of his employment or of work done in such employment, and includes any bonus or
other additional remuneration of the nature aforesaid which would be so payable
and any sum payable to such person by reason of the termination of his employment,
but does not include,---
(a) the value of any house accommodation, supply of
light, water, medical attendance or other amenity, or of any service excluded
by general or special order of the Provincial Government;
(b) any contribution paid by the employer to any
pension fund or provident fund;
(c) any travelling allowance or the value of
travelling concession;
(d) any sum paid to the person employed to defray special
expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment; or
(e) any gratuity payable on discharge.
3. Responsibility for payment of wages.--- Every
employer [including a contractor] shall be responsible for the payment to
persons employed by him of all wages required to be paid under this Act.
Provided that, in the case of persons employed
(otherwise than by a contractor),---
(a) in factories, if a person has been named as the manager
of the factory under clause (e) of sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the
Factories Act. 1934 (XXV of 1934),
(b) in Industrial establishments, if there is a person
responsible to the employer for the supervision and control of the industrial
establishment,
(c) upon railways (otherwise than in factories), if
the employer is the railway administration and the railway administration has
nominated a person in this behalf for the local area concerned, the person so
named, the person so responsible to the employer of the person so nominated, as
the case may be, shall be responsible for such payment.
4. Fixation of wage periods.--- (1) Every person responsible
for the payment of wages under Section 3 shall fix periods (in this Act
referred to as wage periods) in respect of which such wages shall be payable.
(2) No wage-period shall exceed one month.
5. Time of payment of wages.-- (1) The wages of every
person employed upon or in,---
(a) any railway, factory or industrial establishment
upon or in which less than one thousand persons are employed, shall be paid
before the expiry of seventh day,
(b) any other railway, factory or industrial
establishment shall be paid before the expiry of the tenth day, after the last
day of the wage-period in respect of which the wages are payable.
(2) Where the employment of any person is terminated
by or on behalf of the employer, the wages earned by him shall be paid before
the expiry of the second working day from the day on which his employment is
terminated.
(3) The Provincial Government may, by general or
special order exempt, to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be specified
in the order, the person responsible for the payment of wages to persons
employed upon any railway (otherwise than in a factory) from the operation of
this section in respect of the wages of any such person or class of such
persons.
(4) All payments of wages shall be made on a
working-day.
6. Wages to be paid in current coin or currency notes. : --
All wages shall be paid in current coin or currency notes or in both.
7. Deductions which may be made from wages. : -- (1)
Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 47 of the Railways
Act, 1890 (IX of 1890), the wages of an employed person shall be paid to him
without deductions of any kind except those authorised by or under this Act.
Explanation.--- Every payment made by the
employed person to the employer or his agent shall, for the purposes of this
Act, be deemed to be a deduction from wages.
(2) Deductions from the wages of an employed person shall be made only in
accordance with the provisions of this .Act, and may be of the following kinds
only, namely,---
(a) fines;
(b) deductions for absence from duty;
(c) deductions for damage to or loss of goods
expressly entrusted to the employed person for custody; or For loss of money
for which he is required to account, where such damage or loss is directly
attributable to his neglect or default;
(d) deductions for house accommodation supplied by the
employer;
(e) deductions for such amenities and services
supplied by the employer as the Provincial Government may, by general or
special order, authorize;
Explanation.--- The word “services” in this
sub-clause does not include the supply of tools and raw materials required for
the purposes of employment.
(f) deductions for recovery of advances or for
adjustment of over-payments of wages;
(g) deductions of income-tax payable by the employed
person;
(h) deductions required to be made by order of a Court
or other authority competent to make such order;
(i) deductions for subscriptions to, and for payment
of advances from, any provident fund to which the Provident Funds Act, 1925
(XIX of 1925), applies or any recognized provident fund as defined in Clause
(37) of Section 2 of the Income Tax Ordinance 1979 (XXXI of 1979)], or any
provident fund approved in this behalf by the Provincial Government during the
continuance of such approval;
(j) deductions for payments to co-operative societies
approved by tin Provincial Government or to a scheme of insurance maintained by
the Pakistan Post Office; and
(k) deductions, made with the written authorization of
the employed person, in furtherance of any War Savings Scheme, approved by the
Provincial Government, for the purchase of Securities of the Government of
Pakistan or the Government of the
8. Fines.--- (1) No fine shall be imposed on any
employed person save in respect of such acts and omissions on his part as the
employer, with the previous approval of the Provincial Government or of the
prescribed authority may have specified by notice under sub-section (2).
(2) A notice specifying such acts and omissions shall
be exhibited in the prescribed manner on the premises in which the employment
is carried on or in the case of persons employed upon a railway (otherwise than
in a factory), at the prescribed place or places.
(3) No fine shall be imposed on any employed person
until he has been given an opportunity of showing cause against the fine, or
otherwise than in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed for the
imposition of fines.
(4) The total amount of fine which may be imposed in
any one wage-period on any employed person shall not exceed an amount equal to
Paisa 3 in the rupee of the wages payable to him in respect of that wage
period.
(5) No fine shall be Imposed on an employed person who
is under the age of fifteen years.
(6) No fine imposed on an employed person shall be
recovered from him by instalments or after the expiry of sixty days from the
day on which it was imposed.
(7) Every fine shall be deemed to have been imposed on
the day of the act or omission, in respect of which it was imposed,
(8) All fines and all realizations thereof shall be
recorded in a register to be kept by the person responsible for the payment of
wages under Section 3 in such form as may be prescribed; and all such
realizations shall be applied only to such purposes beneficial to the persons
employed in the factory or establishment as are approved by the prescribed
authority.
Explanation.--- When the persons employed “upon
or in any railway, factory or industrial establishment, are part only of a
staff employed under the same management, all such realizations may be credited
to a common fund maintained for the staff as a whole, provided that the fund
shall be applied only to such purposes as are provided by the prescribed
authority.
9. Deductions for absence from duty.--- (1) Deductions
may be made under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of Section 7 only on account of
the absence of an employed person from the place or places where, by the terms
of his employment he is required to work, such absence being for the whole or
any part of the period during which he is so required to work.
(2) The amount of such deduction shall in no case bear
to the wages payable to the employed person in respect of the wage-period for
which the deduction is made a larger proportion than the period for which he
was absent bears to the total period, within such wage-period, during which by
the terms of his employment, he was required to work.
Provided that, subject to any rules made in this behalf
by the Provincial Government, if ten or more employed persons acting in concert
absent themselves without due notice (that is to say, without giving the notice
which is required under the terms of their contracts of employment) and without
reasonable cause, such deduction from any such person may include such amount
not exceeding his wages for eight days as may by any such terms be due to the
employer in lieu of due notice.
Explanation.--- For the purposes of this section,
an employed person shall be deemed to be absent from the place where he is
required to work, if, although present in such place, he refuses, in pursuance
of a stay-in-strike or any other cause which is not reasonable in the
circumstances, to carry out his work.
10. Deductions for damages or loss.--- (1) A deduction
under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of Section 7 shall not exceed the amount of
the damage or loss caused to the employer by the neglect or default of the
employed person and shall not be made until the employed person has been given
an opportunity of showing cause against the deduction, or otherwise than in
accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed for the making of such
deductions.
(2) All such deductions and all realizations thereof
shall be recorded it a register to be kept by the person responsible for the
payment of wages under Section 3 in such form as may be prescribed.
11. Deductions for services rendered. : -- A deduction
under clause (d) or clause (e) of sub-section (2) of Section 7 shall not be
made from the wages of an employed person unless the house accommodation,
amenity or service has been accepted by him, as a term of employment or
otherwise, and such deduction shall not exceed an amount equivalent to the
value of the house accommodations, amenity or service supplied and, in the case
of a deduction under the said clause (e), shall be subject to such conditions
as the Provincial Government may impose.
12. Deductions for recovery of advances.--- Deductions
under clause (f) of sub-section (2) of Section 7 shall be subject to the following
conditions, namely,---
(a) recovery of “in advance of money given before
employment began shall be made from the first payment of wages in respect of a
complete wage-period, but no recovery shall be made of such advances given for
travelling expenses.
(b) recovery of advance of wages not already earned
shall be subject to any rules made by the Provincial Government regulating the
extent to which such advances may be given and the instalments by which they
may be recovered.
13. Deductions for payments to co-operative societies and
insurance schemes.--- Deductions under clause (j) and clause (k) of sub-section
(2) of Section 7 shall be subject to such conditions as the Provincial Government
may impose.
14. Inspector. : -- An Inspector of Factories
appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 10 of the Factories Act, 1934 (XXV
of 1934), shall be an Inspector for the purposes of this Act in respect of all
factories within the local limits assigned to him.
(2) The Provincial Government may appoint Inspectors
for the purposes of this Act in respect of all persons employed upon a railway
(otherwise than in a factory) to whom this Act applies.
(3) The Provincial Government may, by Notification in
the official Gazette, appoint such other persons as it thinks fit to be
Inspectors for the purposes of this Act, and may define the local limits within
which and the class of factories and industrial establishments in respects of
which they shall exercise their functions.
(4) An Inspector may, at all reasonable hours, enter
on any premises, and make such examination of any register or document relating
to the calculation or payment of wages and take on the spot or otherwise such
evidence of any person, and exercise such other powers of inspections, as he
may deem necessary for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(5) Every Inspector shall be deemed to be a public
servant within the meaning of the Pakistan Penal Code (XLV of 1860).
15. Claims out of deductions from wages or delay in payment
of wages and penalty for malicious or vexatious claims. : -- The Provincial
Government may, by notification in the official Gazette appoint any
Commissioner for Worksmen”s Compensation or other officer with experience as a
Judge of a Civil Court or as a stipendiary Magistrate to be the authority to
hear and decide for any specified area all claims arising out of deductions
from the wages, [or non-payment of dues relating to provident fund or gratuity
payable under any law] or delay in the payment of wages, of persons employed or
paid in that area;
(2) Where contrary to the provisions of this Act any
deduction has been made from the wages of an employed person, or any payment of
wages [or of any dues relating to Provident Fund or gratuity payable under any
law] has been delayed, such person himself, or any legal practioner, or any
official of a registered trade union authorised in writing to act on his behalf
or any Inspector under this Act [or of any heirs of an employed person who has
died] or any other person acting with the permission of the authority appointed
under sub-section (1), may apply to such authority for direction under
sub-section (3).---
Provided that every application shall be presented
within [three years] from the date on which the deduction from the wages was
made or from the date on which the payment of the wages was due to be made, as
the case may be.
Provided further that any application may be admitted
after the said period of [three years] when the applicant satisfies the
authority that he had sufficient cause for not making the application within
such period.
(3) When any application under sub-section (2) is
entertained, the authority shall hear the applicant and the employer or other
person responsible for the payment of wages under Section 3, or give them an
opportunity of being heard, and, after such further inquiry (if any) as may be
necessary, may, without prejudice to any other penalty to which such employer
or other person is liable under this Act, direct the refund to the employed
person [or if the applicant is one of the heirs of an employed person, the
payment to such applicant] of the amount deducted, or the payment of the
delayed wages, together with the payment of such compensation as the authority
may think fit, not exceeding ten times the amount deducted in the former case
and not exceeding ten rupees in the latter,---
Provided that no direction for the payment of
compensation shall be made in the case of delayed wages if the authority is
satisfied that the delay was due to,---
(a) a bona fide error or bona fide dispute as to the
amount payable to the employed person, or
(b) the occurrence of an emergency, or the existence
of exceptional circumstances, such that the person responsible for the payment
of the wages was unable though exercising reasonable diligence, to make prompt
payment, or
(c) the failure of the employed person to apply for or
accept payment.
(4) If the authority hearing any application under
this section is satisfied that it was either malicious or vexatious, the
authority may direct that a penalty not exceeding fifty rupees be paid to the
employer or other person responsible for the payment of wages by the person
presenting the application.
(5) Any amount directed to be paid under this section
may be recovered,---
(a) if the authority is a Magistrate by the authority
as if it were a fine imposed by him as Magistrate, and
(b) if the authority is not a Magistrate, by the
authority as an arrear of land revenue, or in the prescribed manner, by the
authority by distress and sale of the movable property belonging to the person
by whom the amount is to be paid, or by attachment and sale of the immovable
property belonging to such person.]
16. Single application in respect of claims from an unpaid
group; (1) Employed persons are said to belong to the same unpaid group if they
are borne on the same establishment and if their wages for the same wage-period
or periods have remained unpaid after the day fixed by Sec. 5.
(2) A single application may be presented under Sec.
15 on behalf or in respect of any number of employed persons belonging to the
same unpaid group, and in such case the maximum compensation that may be
awarded under sub-section (3) of Sec. 15 shall be ten rupees per head.
(3) The authority may deal with any number of separate
pending applications, presented under Section 15 in respect of persons
belonging to the same unpaid group, as a single application presented under
subsection (2) of this section, and the provisions of that sub-section shall apply
accordingly.
17. Appeal. : -- (1), An appeal against the direction
made under sub section (3) or sub-section (4) of Section 15 may be preferred
within thirty days of the date on which the direction was made before the
[Labour Court constituted under the Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969 (XXI11
of 1969) within whose jurisdiction the cause of action to which the appeal
relates arose],---
(a) by the employer or other person responsible for
the payment of wages under Section 3, if the total sum directed to be paid by
way of wages and compensation exceeds three hundred rupees.---
[Provided that no appeal under this clause shall lie
unless the memorandum of appeal is accompanied by a certificate of the
authority to the effect that the appellant has deposited with the authority the
amount payable under the direction appealed against, or]
[(b) by an employed person or, if he has died, by any
of his heirs, if the total amount of the wages claimed to have been withheld
from the employed person or from the unpaid group to which he belonged exceeds
fifty rupees, or]
(c) by any person directed to pay a penalty under sub
section (4) of Section 15.
[(l-A) All appeals pending before any District Court
under this section immediately before the commencement of Labour Laws
(Amendment) Ordinance, 1974 shall on such commencement stand transferred to,
and be disposed of by the Labour Court within whose jurisdiction the cause of
action to which the appeal relates arose].
(2) Save as provided in sub-section (1), any direction
made under sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) of Section 15 shall be final.
18. Powers of authorities appointed under Section 15. : --
Every authority appointed under sub-section (1) of Section 15 shall have
all the powers of a Civil Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, (V of
1908), for the purpose of taking evidence and of enforcing the attendance of witnesses
and compelling the production of documents, and every such authority shall be
deemed to be a civil Court for all purposes of Section 195 and of Chapter XXXV
of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 (V of 1898).
19. Power to recover from employer in certain cases. : --
When the Authority referred to in Section 17 is unable to recover from
any person (other than an employer) responsible under Section 8 for the payment
of wages any amount directed by such Authority under Section 15 or Section 17
to be paid by such person, the Authority shall recover the amount from the
employer of the employed person concerned.
20. Penalty for offences under the Act; (1) Whoever being
responsible for the payment of wages to employed person contravenes any of the
provisions of any of the following sections, namely. Section 5 and Sections 7
to 13, both inclusive, shall be punishable with fine which may extend to five
hundred rupees.
(2) Whoever contravenes the provisions of Section 4,
Section 6 and Section 25 shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two
hundred rupees.
21. Procedure in trial of offences. : -- (1) No Court
shall take cognizance of a complaint against any person for an offence under
subsection (1) of Section 20 unless an application in respect of the facts
constituting the offence has been presented under Section 15 and has been
granted wholly or in part and the Authority empowered under the latter section
or the Appellate Court granting such application has sanctioned the making of
the complaint.
(2) Before sanctioning the making of complaint against
any person for an offence under sub-section (1) of Section 20, the Authority
empowered under section 15 or the Appellate Court, as the case may be, shall
give such person an opportunity of showing cause against the granting of such
sanction, and the sanction shall not be granted if such person satisfies the
Authority or Court that his default was due to,---
(a) A bonafide error of bona fide dispute as to the
amount payable to the employed person, or
(b) the occurrence of an emergency, or the existence
of exceptional circumstance, such that the person responsible for the payment
of the wages was unable, though exercising reasonable diligence, to make prompt
payment, or
(c) the failure of the employed person to apply for or
accept payment.
(3) No Court shall take cognizance of a contravention
of Section 4 or of Section 6 or of a contravention of any rule made under
Section 26 except on a complaint made or with the sanction of an Inspector
under this Act.
(4) In imposing any fine for an offence under
sub-section (1) of Section 20 the Court shall take into consideration the
amount of any compensation already awarded against the accused in any
proceeding taken under Section 15.
21-A. [Omitted by Payment of Wages {Amendment) Act (XV III
of 1973), Sec. 5}.
22. Bar of suits. : --
(a) forms the subject of an application under Section
15 which has been presented by the plaintiff and which is pending before the
Authority appointed under the section or an appeal under Section 17; or
(b) has formed the subject of a direction under
Section 15 in favour of the plaintiff; or
(c) has been adjudged, in any proceeding under Section
15, not to be owed to the plaintiff; or
(d) could have been recovered by an application under
Section 15.
23. Contracting out. : -- Any contract or agreement
whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, whereby an employed
person relinquishes any right conferred by this Act shall be null and void in
so far as it purports to deprive him of such right.
24. Application of Act to Railway, etc.. : -- Omitted
by Central Adaptation of Laws Order P.O. 1 of 1934, Sch.
25. Display by notice of abstracts of the Act.--- The person
responsible for the payment of wages to persons employed in a factory shall
cause to be displayed in such factory a notice containing such abstracts of
this Act and of the rules made thereunder in English and in the language of the
majority of the persons employed in the factory, as may be prescribed.
26. Rule making power. : -- (1) The Provincial
Government may make rules to regulate the procedure to be followed by the
authorities and Courts referred to in Sees. 15 and 17.
(2) The Provincial Government may, by notification in
the official Gazette, make rules for the purpose of carrying into effect the
provisions of this Act.
(3) In particular and without prejudice to the
generality of the foregoing power, rules made under sub-section (2) may,---
(a) require the maintenance of such records, registers,
returns and notices as are necessary for the enforcement of the Act and
prescribe the forms thereof;
(b) require the display in a conspicuous place on
premises where employment is carried on of notices specifying rates of wages
payable to persons employed on such premises;
(c) provide for the regular inspection of the weights,
measures and weighing machines used by employers in checking or ascertaining
the wages of persons employed by them;
(d) prescribe the manner of giving notice of the days
on which wage will be paid;
(e) prescribe the Authority competent to approve under
sub-section (1) of Sec, 8 acts and omissions in respect of which fines may be
imposed;
(f) prescribe the imposition of fines under Section 8
and for the making of the deduction referred to in Section 10;
(g) prescribe the conditions subject to which
deductions may be made under the proviso to Sub-Section (2) of Section 9;
(h) prescribe the Authority competent to approve the
purposes on which the proceeds of fines shall be expended;
(i) prescribe the extent to which advances may be made
and the installments by which they may be recovered with reference to clause
(b) of Section 12;
(j) regulate the scales of costs which may be allowed
in proceedings under this Act;
(k) prescribe the amount of Court-Fees payable in
respect of any proceedings under this Act, and
(l) prescribe the abstracts to be contained in the
notices required by Section 25.
(4) In making any rule under this section the
Provincial Government may provide that a contravention of the rule shall be
punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees.
(5) All rules made under this Section shall be subject
to the condition of previous publication and the date to be specified under
Clause (3) of Section 23 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X of 1897), shall
not be less than three months from the date on which the draft of the proposed
rules was published.
West Pakistan Payment of Wages
Rules, 1960
Payment of Wages (Procedure)
Rules, 1937
Payment of Wages (Federal Railways) Rules, 1938
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