What can you do if your employer does not pay your salary or infinitely delays it?
It is quite common in India for employers to deny salary to employees, especially at the time of firing them. They think that employee’s have no options or the resources to pursue a case against an employer. In reality, there are several things an employee can do that can land an employer in real trouble. However, the knowledge regarding the same is not available in public domain and lawyer’s advice come costly.
There are several legal process that can be followed by an employee to recover salary or wages. The first step that we recommend is sending a good notice from a credible lawyer who has a track record of doing such matters. However, before we tell you more about that, let us get you introduced to some basic concepts in Indian labour laws that deal with the issues of non-payment of wages or salary.
India has an entire law on payment of salary called Payment of Wages Act, though it does not apply to all levels of employees. It usually applies to low-wage blue caller workers.
Let’s see what the Payment of Wages Act has to say in this matter.
Section 4 of the payment of wages Act states –
Fixation of wage period every person responsible for the payment of wages under Section 3 shall fix periods in respect of which such wages shall be payable. No wage period shall exceed one month.
Reference 2 – Section 4 payment of wages Act
Monthly Salary Distribution Requirements:
- A person is working in an establishment with a wage not more than one thousand, the wage to the particular person shall be paid before the expiry of the seventh day.
- A person with the wage of more than one thousand shall be paid before the expiry of the tenth day.
- If the employee is terminated by the employer the wages earned by him shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day from the day his employment is terminated.
What steps can be taken by employee:
If your employer is not paying your salary, you can get these remedies.
A) Approach Labour Commissioner:
If an employer doesn’t pay up your salary, you can approach the labour commissioner. They will help you to reconcile this matter and if no solution is reached labour commissioner will hand over this matter to the court whereby a case against your employer may be pursued.
B) Industrial Dispute Act:
- An employee can file a suit under Section 33(c) of Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 recovery of money due from an employer.
- When the salary is due from the employer, the employee himself or any other person authorized by him in writing on his behalf can claim recover money.
- In case of the employee death, the authorized person or heirs make an application to the labour court for recovery of money due.
- The court will further issue a certificate on being satisfied that the salary is due and the collector shall proceed to recover the same.
- If any question arises as to the amount of money due or as to the amount at which such benefit should be computed, it would be computed according to rules under this Act.
Labour Court Time Line:
Cases have to be decided by such labour court within period not exceeding Three Months provided that where the presiding officer of a labour court considers it necessary or expedient so to do, he may for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend such period by such further period as may he think fit.
Reference 3 – Section 33(c)(2) Industrial Dispute Act, 1947
What about executives, managers and those who earn above INR 18,000 a month?
If you are manager or executive level employee, you can file a case against the company in the civil court under order 37 of Court of civil procedure. This is faster than the usual slow procedure in civil courts, called a summary suit. It is quite effective, but should not be pursued as a first resort. There are easier things at your disposal as well. Out of 100 cases, maybe 5-7 requires such effort. However, many lawyers are quick to jump to this. Before opting for this, ask your lawyer to exhaust other means.
What if company is not paying with a fraudulent or dishonest intent?
If an employee is affected by the company’s fraudulent activities, then he may seek some strong actions.
The following remedies would be available in such cases:
Employer Fraud Punishment:
- Section 447 of Companies Act, 2013 lays down punishment for fraud.
- Person shall be liable for imprisonment not less than 6 months which may extend to 10 years.
- Fine not less than amount involved in fraud which may extend upto three times of the fraud amount.
- Subsequent measures can be taken under Section 447 of the Act.
- An employee can also file a criminal case against the company under Indian Penal Code.
First Step To recover unpaid salary
Step 1: We strongly recommend sending a legal notice enumerating all the actions that you may take from a credible lawyer. Before going to a lawyer, ensure that they have some track record in doing such work.
Step 2: If this does not work, approaching police for a cheating case, where there is enough evidence for such fraud, is critical. At this stage, it is important to prepare a detailed case file to give to police, and your lawyer should assist you in this. A majority of such complaints are not accepted due to weak drafting and lack of prima facie evidence. This is where a good lawyer can make a lot of difference.
Step 3: Where criminal case is not an option, or does not produce results, we recommend going for a summary suit or labour court, as the case may be. In our experience of handling such matters in large numbers, we can say that not more than 10% of such disputes need to go to this stage if the matter was handled well in earlier stages. Challenge is that lawyers are more comfortable and earns more money at this stage, so if they don’t have your interest in mind they might hurry to this stage.
Important things to keep in mind when you are trying to recover your unpaid salary
The notice is a very important psychological tool, and getting the salary in less time is a psychological game. If the employer understands the consequences quickly, he will settle before you need to go to court, which keeps costs low as well. However, only a few lawyers do this kind of work because it may not be very profitable for them.
There are many cases in India where employer does not pay salary for a month or couple of months and easily get away with the same. A good example is of Kingfisher Airlines. When it shut down its operations, many workers were not paid their dues. We handle a lot of such cases at our helpline on a regular basis. If you are facing such a problem, don’t hesitate to use the paid helpline services above.
TAGS
I am Donia Varghese, I had joined in a hospital as a staff nurse, in this hospital because of experience, when I joined here September last nd in the month if October my collagues got salary and I didn’t get my salary, when I asked my higher authority (HR dept) they said already they released my salary nd from nursing office my salary got hold without prior information, Then I asked directly to Nursing office they said if u r working till November 7th they will provide my salary otherwise u can resign from our hospital, I said when I will get my salary then only I will come and do my duty in this hospital, again they said the same thing, because of this I approached Rishbh sir through google nd explained about my problem, according to this sir had made one notice and sended to the particular Company, when sir had forwarded my letter through e-mail within 2 -4 days they called me and said u can come and collect ur dues..
Thank you very much sir ur support
My dear fellow citizens,
As we all know that our country is going through its worst time and everyone is facing problems be it medical or financial. Even employers have again started laying off the employees without notice period pay or are keeping hold of their salaries and due to this, the employees are loosing their jobs without being paid and are hand to mouth these days.
I would like to inform you that government has taken some important steps and also changed some rules & regulations to protect the rights of an employee during this crisis. As there are various laws of employment with respect to salary, gratuity, pf , TDS etc , an employee must always feel protected under the shadow of these laws.
So, in this period of crisis , one must not loose patience & follow the correct procedure to get your dues cleared. I would also like to inform you that I was not active and was not able to connect with each n every one of you from last 2 months as I was tested covid -19 positive but thankfully now I m 24*7 available for your help in getting your dues cleared . Feel free to reach me regarding your dues .
Note: I have been closely monitoring the cases of people who have reached out for help through my blog for their unpaid salary dues so don’t worry and secondly congratulations to those whose dues have already been cleared during these last 2 months. I hope you guys were satisfied by the services provided through my office.
Wish You Good Health
Thanks & Regards
RISHABH SETHI (ADV)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA & HIGH COURTS
MOB- 8077359032 , 9643139991.
EMAIL- advrishabhsethi2017@gmail.com
My Dear Citizens,
May this festival of colors brings joy and prosperity to your life. A Very Happy Holi.
I have been quite occupied these days with hundreds of salary dispute cases and was not able to reply to your queries on this blog, so kindly contact me directly on my cell so that I can help you out with your queries as soon as possible ..
Happy To Help…
CONTACT NO- 8077359032, 9643139991
EMAIL- advrishabhsethi2017@gmail.com
RISHABH SETHI ( ADV)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA AND HIGH COURTS
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year . As we all know that everyone has been through a lot of mental and financial crisis last year due to non payment of salary but thankfully this year , new legal guidelines are helping employees get their unpaid salary cleared from their employer in a speedy way.
I would like to inform you that government has taken some important steps and also changed some rules & regulations to protect the rights of an employee during this crisis. As there are various laws of employment with respect to salary, gratuity, pf , TDS etc , an employee must always feel protected under the shadow of these laws.
So, in this period of crisis , one must not loose patience & follow the correct procedure to get your dues cleared. I would also like to inform you that I was not active and was not able to connect with each n every one of you from last 2 months due to lot of work load but thankfully now I m 24*7 available for your help in getting your dues cleared . Feel free to reach me regarding your dues .
Note: I have been closely monitoring the cases of people who have reached out for help through my blog for their unpaid salary dues so don’t worry and secondly congratulations to those whose dues have already been cleared during these last 2 months. I hope you guys were satisfied by the services provided through my office.
Wish You Good Health
Thanks & Regards
RISHABH SETHI (ADV)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA & HIGH COURTS
MOB- 8077359032 , 9643139991.
EMAIL- advrishabhsethi2017@gmail.com
My dear fellow citizens,
I would like to inform you that government has taken some important steps and also changed some rules & regulations to protect the rights of an employee during this crisis. As there are various laws of employment with respect to salary, gratuity, pf , TDS etc , an employee must always feel protected under the shadow of these laws.
So, in this period of crisis , one must not loose patience & follow the correct procedure to get your dues cleared. I would also like to inform you that I was not active and was not able to connect with each n every one of you from last 2 months due to lot of work load but thankfully now I m 24*7 available for your help in getting your dues cleared . Feel free to reach me regarding your dues .
Note: I have been closely monitoring the cases of people who have reached out for help through my blog for their unpaid salary dues so don’t worry and secondly congratulations to those whose dues have already been cleared during these last 2 months. I hope you guys were satisfied by the services provided through my office.
Wish You Good Health
Thanks & Regards
RISHABH SETHI (ADV)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA & HIGH COURTS
MOB- 8077359032 , 9643139991.
EMAIL- advrishabhsethi2017@gmail.com
As we all are well aware of the fact that the world is currently going through a period of very serious crisis. Normally, when a natural crisis strikes, it is limited to a few countries or states. However, this time, the calamity is such that it has put all of mankind under crisis. All company operations are shut resulting in increase in number of bankruptcy , unemployment , salary cut and unpaid dues cases across the country
The employees are not getting their salaries or pending dues cleared from their employer companies.
Government has taken some important steps and also changed some rules and regulations regarding employment so that the companies could be saved and the employees could be paid easily and in a short frame of time .
So, in this period of crisis , one must not loose patience and follow the correct procedure to get their dues cleared and for this , I would like to inform you guys that I m 24*7 available for your help in getting your dues cleared . Feel free to reach me regarding your dues .
Wish You Good Health
Thanks & Regards
RISHABH SETHI (ADV)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA & HIGH COURTS
MOB- 8077359032 , 9643139991.
EMAIL-
My Dear Citizens,
I have been quite occupied these days with hundreds of salary dispute cases and was not able to reply to query on this blog, so kindly contact me directly on my cell so that I can help you out with your queries as soon as possible ..
Happy To Help…
CONTACT NO- 8077359032, 9643139991
EMAIL- advrishabhsethi2017@gmail.com
RISHABH SETHI ( ADV)
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA AND HIGH COURTS
Hello sir
I am working with travel company in new delhi in sale department
I started my job on 20th of January 2020 and company owner did pay salary till now.
He was send me only 5k because i said i have some urgent work.
After that he didn’t pay a single mony to me.
Now can you guide me what i do?.