What can I do if my employer pays me below the minimum wage?

Question

I recently found out I am being paid less than the minimum wage notified for my category of work. What are my legal options? What I am unsure about is the procedure — where the application goes, what it costs, and how long minimum wages act matters usually take. A plain explanation of the steps, in order, would help more than a general answer.

MyVakeel Legal Desk · Accepted Answer

The law that applies to minimum wages act here is Minimum Wages Act 1948, Section 20, Minimum Wages Act 1948, Section 22 and Code on Wages 2019. The detail below matters, because Minimum Wages Act 1948, Section 20 draws the line differently depending on what your documents show.

State governments notify minimum wage rates for scheduled employments, and paying below this rate is a statutory violation regardless of any private agreement to the contrary, since Section 25 makes any contract paying less than the minimum wage void to that extent.

Under Section 20, an aggrieved employee can file a claim before the designated Authority for the difference between wages actually paid and the minimum wage due, along with compensation up to ten times the shortfall.

Section 22 makes payment of less than the minimum wage a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment up to six months or fine, and prosecution can be initiated with the sanction of the appropriate government.

Claims must generally be filed within six months of the wages becoming payable, though the Authority has discretion to condone delay for sufficient cause shown by the employee.

The Code on Wages 2019, once fully implemented in a state, extends minimum wage protection to all employments and introduces a floor wage below which no state can fix minimum wages.

What to do next: 1) Check the current minimum wage notification for your category and location on the state labour department website; 2) Compute the shortfall between your actual pay and the notified minimum wage; 3) File a claim before the Minimum Wages Authority in your district; 4) Report the violation to the labour inspector for possible prosecution under Section 22.

If you are unsure whether your facts fall inside Minimum Wages Act 1948, Section 20, that is worth checking with an advocate before you commit to a route, because switching later costs time. You can post the details on the MyVakeel forum for a practising advocate to review, or book a paid consultation with a Bar Council verified lawyer in labour law.