Minimum Wages Act,1948 – No Discrimination Between Men and Women Workers

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 does not contain any provision for discrimination between men and women workers. All the provisions of the Act equally apply to both men and women workers.

In other words, female workers working in any scheduled employment including agriculture sector are entitled for same wages as fixed by the appropriate Governments for their male counterparts.

Central Government has not received any complaint of non-payment of minimum wages to the women working in Agriculture Sector. Further, the implementation of the Act is carried out by the Centre as well as the States in respect of their respective jurisdictions. In the Central Sphere, the enforcement is secured through the Inspecting Officers of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) commonly designated as Central Industrial Relations Machinery (CIRM), the compliance in the State sphere is ensured through the State Enforcement Machinery. They conduct regular inspections and in the event of detection of any case of non-payment or under-payment of minimum wages, they advise the employers to make payment of the shortfall of wages. In case of non-compliance, penal provisions against the defaulting employers are invoked. A statement indicating the status of implementation of the Minimum Wages Act in both Central and State sphere is enclosed.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Labour & Employment Shri Mallikarjun Kharge in reply to a written question in the Lok Sabha today.

New Delhi, 15-05-2012