By Isaac Gomes
Kolkata, May 1, 2023: Today is May 1. It’s also called May Day or Workers’ Day and is also celebrated across the world as International Workers’ Day.
Today is also a day to take stock of the challenges, deprivation and health hazards workers, particularly women workers, have to face in the post-Covid work scenario. It’s a fact that thousands of workers in the unorganised sector often have low-paying jobs and limited access to benefits namely PF, Medical/ESI, paid leave and Gratuity.
Even our churches and church-run institutes which honor their workers today are not outside the purview f this stock-taking. For in most cases, the pay of church workers is a widow’s pittance bereft of the basic benefits namely Provident Fund (PF), Medical (not even ESI) and Gratuity.
Most churches maintain a savings/recurring bank account where the employer and employee equally contribute a minimum monthly amount – not in line with PF rules and rate of interest. The Passbook is kept in the custody of parish priest, assistant parish priest (Bursar).
A Catholic NGO on Park Street Kolkata having good connections with the hierarchy, does not have any provision for PF or gratuity or retirement benefits even after 41 years of operation in the field of rehabilitation and empowerment of the marginalised and destitute, especially women and children.
Recently it lost a good worker, who resigned out of frustration. She was second in command and looked after many projects, especially the rural ones. She was even made to work on many Sundays. Yet after 20 years of dedicated service, she was not paid any PF or gratuity. This is clear cheating and deprivation in the name Christ and Charity. The owner is an avid `church-bhakt’ and her husband is a lawyer who the other day conducted a career counselling workshop on the legal profession for students of Classes IX-XII.
In this connection, it is worth taking a look at an annual meeting of Church people in the Bengal-Sikkim region (Darjeeling, October 6-8, 2014). One senior priest from Asansol diocese had proposed 14 points for Laity Empowerment in keeping with the Convention’s theme “Empowering Our Laity for Greater Pastoral Collaboration and Political Responsibility.”
His key recommendations were:
Let bishops, priests and Religious begin to listen seriously to the laity. They have an accumulated wisdom born of their varied day to day experiences.
Pay not only just but DECENT wages, with specific terms and conditions, to all personnel working in the Church Related Institutions.
Let the bishops and the Religious formulate a regional policy and guidelines on financial remuneration with terms and conditions for employment and regulation of service of all Church related workers.
Train laypersons on financial administration in Church-related Institutions. Let them be entrusted with parish accounts, banking, institutional and Diocesan finances, audit, filing of income tax, foreign contribution returns.
Let lay persons be involved in the formulation of diocesan policies, including scale of pay, terms and conditions of service of Church Workers, in the planning and implementation of diocesan functions not forgetting to use their expertise to raise local funds for the various works of parishes, institutions and dioceses.
Encourage and train lay Christians to take active part in politics to make the Christian presence felt for better governance of the country.
All the above recommendations were put in cold storage.
Work Hours and Day Offs
The Central government has proposed a four-day work week instead of five. But, there is a catch here. An employee can choose a 4-day work week, which will essentially mean they will work for long working hours. They will have to work for 12 hours for those four days – instead of the regular 8-9 hours followed by most offices currently. According to the government, the 48-hour weekly work requirement has to be met.
Since the pandemic, companies have changed the way they work. While the work-from-home structure became a key feature for employers and employees (thanks to the various benefits it has for both parties), a four-day work week has also been talked about.
Now, the federal government has released four new labour codes that will change the way employers and employees work. In this connection readers may refer to a June 25, 2022, article “From Less Take-home Salary To 12-hour Shifts At Work: Is India Ready For New Labour Laws?”
Provident Fund and Gratuity
According to the new laws, the basic salary of an employee has to be at least 50 per cent of their gross monthly salary which leads to an increase in PF contribution made by employees as well as employers. The retirement corpus and gratuity amount will also increase. The in-hand salary or take-home amount will take a major hit with the new laws. With an increase in PF and Gratuity, the in-hand salary will see a reduction of sorts. Prices of necessary goods like groceries, transportation and rent are at an all-time high.
The Codes (passed by the Parliament) mandate that the payment of wages to an employee who is exiting an organization, be made within two working days of his/her removal, dismissal, retrenchment or resignation. Currently, not all the states’ legislations include “resignation” for determining this timeline of two working days.
“The new Code does not specify any salary limit and covers all employees, thereby making this timeline universal. Another provision which is of importance is the one relating to cap on the deductions. Employers have to ensure that deductions made from the salary relate to specifically permissible deductions (such as contribution to Provident Fund, tax deduction at source (TDS)) and that the total deduction in any month should not exceed 50% of wages,” said Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Partner with Deloitte India, Radhika Viswanathan, executive director with Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP and Vijayalakshmi Kartik, manager with Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP.