Sunday, October 25, 2015

Equal Remuneration Act 1976

Section 1: Commencement:

  • Come into force on 8th March 1976.
  • It extends to whole of India

Section 2: Important Definitions under this act:


Section 2(a) - Appropriate Government:
  1. in relation to any employment carried on by or under the authority of central government, or a railway administration, or in relation to a banking company, a mine, oilfield or major port or any corp established by or under a central government, The Central Government., And,
  2. in relation to any other employment, The State Government.
Section 2(c) - Employer:
has the meaning assigned to it in clause (f) of section 2 of Payment of Gratuity Act 1972, which states:

'Employer' means, in relation to any establishment, factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port, railway company or shop-

  1. belonging or under control of central or state government - a person appointed by the appropriate government for the supervision and control of employees or when no on has been appointed, the head of the ministry or department concerned.
  2. belonging or under control of local authority -  a person appointed by such authority for the supervision and control , if not appointed, then the Chief Executive Officer of the local authority.
  3. In any other case, person, or authorized person who has the ultimate control over the affairs of the establishment, factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port, railway company or shop and where the said affairs are entrusted to any other person whether called a manager, managing director or by any other name.
Section 2(d) - 'Man' & 'Woman':
male and female human beings, respectively, of any age.

Section 2(e) - Notification:
notification published in the official gazette.

Section 2(g) - Remuneration:
means the basic wage or salary, and any additional emoluments whatsoever payable, either in cash or in kind, to a person employed in respect of employment or work done in such employment, if the terms of the contract of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled.

Section 2(h) - Same work or work of similar nature:
Work in respect of which the skill, effort and responsibility required are the same, when performed under similar working conditions, by a man or woman and the difference, if any, not of practical importance.

Section 2(i) - Worker:
a worker in any establishment or employment in respect of which this act has came into force.

Section 3 - Act to have overriding Effect

Section 4 - Duty of Employer to Pay Equal Remuneration to Men & Women Workers for Same Work or Work of Similar Nature

Section 5 - No Discrimination to be made while recruiting Men & Women Workers

Section 6 - Advisory Committee:

  • For the purpose of providing increasing employment opportunities for women
  • established by appropriate government, to advice it with regard to the extent to which women may be employed in such establishment as the central government may, by notification, specify in this behalf.
  • consist atleast 10 persons, to be nominated by appropriate government, of which one half shall be women.

Section 7 - Power of Appropriate Government to appoint authorities for hearing and deciding claims and complaints:

  • Appropriate government appoints such officers, not below the rank of a Labor Officer, as it thinks fit to be the authorities for  the purpose of hearing and deciding complaints with regard to contravention of any provision of this act, claims arising out of non payment of wages at equal rates to men and women for the same work or work of similar nature.
  • define the local limits within which each such authority shall exercise its jurisdiction
  • every authority shall have all the powers of civil court under the code of civil procedure, 1908, for the purpose of taking evidence and of enforcing the attendance of witnesses and compelling the production of documents.
  • every such authority shall be deemed to be a civil court for all the purposes of section 195 and chapter XXVI of code of criminal procedure, 1973

Section 8 - Duty of Employers to Maintain Registers

Section 9 - Inspector:

  • appointed by appropriate government
  • for the purpose of making an investigation as to whether the provisions of this act, are being complied with by employers and may define local limits within which an inspector may make such investigation.
  • every inspector shall to be deemed to be a public servant
  • an inspector may, at any place, within the local limits of his jurisdiction-
    • enter at any reasonable time, any building, factory, premises or vessel
    • require any employer to produce any register, muster roll or any other document
    • take any evidence
    • examine the employer, his agent or servant or any other person in charge
    • make copies or take extracts from any register or document

Section 10 - Penalties:

  1. if employer:
    • omits or fails to maintain any register, or
    • omits or fails to produce any register, or
    • omits or refuses to give any evidence, or
    • omits or refuses to give any information,  shall be punishable of simple imprisonment, which can extend upto 1 month or rs. 10,000 or both
  2. if, after the commencement of this act, any employer:
    • makes any recruitment in contravention of this act, or
    • makes any payment of remuneration at unequal rates, or
    • makes any discrimination between men and women workers, or
    • omits or fails to carry out any direction made by appropriate government under subsection (5) of section 6., shall be punishable with atleast Rs. 10,000, which may extend to Rs. 20,000 or imprisonment at least 3 months, which may extend to 1 years, or both

Section 11 - offences by companies

Section 12 - Cognizance & Trial of Offences

Section 13 - Power to make Rules

Section 14 - Power of Central Government to give Directions

Section 15 - Act not to apply in certain cases:

Nothing in this act shall apply - 
  • to cases affecting the terms and conditions of a woman's employment in complying with the requirements of any law giving special treatment to women, or
  • to any special treatment accorded to women in connection with - 
    • the birth or unexpected birth of a child, or
    • the terms and conditions relating to retirement, marriage or death or to any provision made in connection with the retirement, marriage or death.

Section 16 - Power to make Declaration

Section 17 - Power to remove Difficulties

Section 18 - Repeal & Saving


Note: Only important sections have described in detail; kindly refer bare act for further clarification