equal opportunity and law

7/30/2019 Equal Opportunity and Law

1/24

Equal Opportunity and Law

Sunil Shukla


2/24

Labor legislation in India

India has an elaborate labor legislation

framework, largely covering the organized

sector

The legislations are criticized for being too

rigid and inflexible

The legislations are rooted in the constitutionof India


3/24

Constitution of India and Labor

Legislation

The constitution of India is rooted in the principles of

democracy, socialism, and secularism

The specific provisions concerned with labor and work

are found in the fundamental rights section and thedirective principles of state policy

The constitution distributes the powers to handle labor

related legislations between central and state

legislatures

Separate constitutional provisions exist to regulate

conditions of work of civil servants (government

employees)


4/24

India and Labor Legislation

Fundamental Rights

Article 14: Equality before law

Article 15b : Prohibition of discrimination ongrounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth

Article 16: Equality of opportunity in matters of

public employment

Article 17: Abolition of un-touchability


5/24


Right to Freedom

Article 19 deals with the protection of certain rights

regarding freedom of speech, etc

Right Against Exploitation

Article 21 deals with the right to life

Article 23 deals with the prohibition of trafficking of

human beings and forced labor

Article 24 deals with the prohibition of employment

of children in factories


6/24


Directive Principles of state policy

Article 38: State to secure a social order for the

promotion of welfare of the people

Article 39: Certain principles of policy to be

followed by the state

Article 41: right to work, to education and public

assistance in certain cases. Article 42: Provision for just humane conditions of

work and maternity relief

Article 43: Living wage, etc, for workers


7/24


Article 43A: Participation of workers in management

of industries

Article 45: Provision from free and compulsory

education for children

Article 46: Promotion of educational and economic

interests of scheduled caste, schedules tribes and other

weaker section

Article 47: Duty of the state to raise the level of

nutrition and standard of living and to improve public

health


8/24


Articles affecting government employment

Article 309: Refers to recruitment and conditions of

service of people employed by government.

Article 310: Specifies the tenure of persons holding

office.

Article 311: Refers to dismissal, removal anddemotion of government employees


9/24


Labor Jurisdiction for Central and State

government

Article 246 and the seventh schedule of theconstitution of India specify distribution of powers

(legislative) between the central and state

government

Labor is placed in the concurrent List or List III


10/24

Laws related to Industrial

Relationships

The Trade Unions Act, 1926.

The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders)

Act, 1946.

The Industrial Disputes (ID) Act, 1947.


11/24

The Trade Unions Act, 1926

The act allows freedom for any seven

employees to apply to register a trade union,

but a later amendment in 2001 specified the

minimum membership as 10% of the

employees or 100 employees, whichever is less.

Trade unions are to be registered with the

appropriate government-appointed Registrar of

Trade Unions.


12/24

Industrial Employment (Standing

Orders) Act, 1946

The act formally defines conditions of employment

including recruitment, discharge, disciplinary action,

working hours, holidays and leaves.

The act is applicable to industrial establishments underthe jurisdiction of central and state governments.

It serves to reduce conflict and communication

mechanism between management and labor.

Industrial Disputes (ID) Act, 1947

The act was formulated with the objective of having a machinery

and procedure for the investigation and settlement of industrial

disputes in place.


13/24

Laws Related to Wages

The Payment of Wages Act, 1936

The act ensures payment of wages on time.

The Minimum Wages Act, 1948 The act sets the framework for declaring the

minimum wages payable for occupations, both in

formal and the informal sectors.

It specifies the structure and procedure for fixingand revising the minimum wages at regular

intervals.


14/24

Laws Related to Working Hours,

Conditions of Services and Employment

The Factories Act, 1948

The act safeguards the health, safety and welfare of workers in

establishments covered by the act.

The Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961

The act deals with work-related aspects of shops and commercial

establishments.

It prohibits employment of children, underage people, and womenduring night hours.

It lays down the procedure for dismissal, discharge, and

termination of employment.


15/24

Laws Related to Equality and

Empowerment of Women

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

It provides job security and support to pregnant

women.

The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

The act prevents gender-based discrimination in

employment and wages.


16/24

Laws Related to Social Security

Workmens Compensation Act, 1923

The act provides compensation to employees in cases of mishaps at work.

Employees State Insurance Act, 1948

The act provides relief to employees and

dependents in cases of sickness or events that

prevent them from working.

Various benefits given to eligible employees are:

Sickness benefitin cash

Maternity benefitin cash

Disablement benefitin cash

Dependents benefitin cash

Funeral expensesin cash

Medical benefitas service and kind


17/24

Laws Related to Social Security

Employees Provident Funds And Miscellaneous

Provisions Act, 1952

The act provides security to employees during times of

distress and old age.

Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972

The act provides for gratuity payment to all employeesat the prescribed rates, currently 15 days for every year

of service.


18/24

Reservations

Reservation in India is a form of affirmative action

designed to improve the well-being of perceived backward

and under-represented communities.

Caste is the most used criteria to identify under-represented groups.

Other identifiable criteria for under-representation- gender,

state of domicile, rural people,

The Supreme Court ruling that reservations cannot exceed

50% However, there are state laws that exceed this 50% limit

(69% in case of Tamil Nadu).


19/24

Types of Reservation

Caste based

SCs & STs, 15% & 7.5% respectively in central services,

including PSUs in states proportional to population.

This reservation percentage has been raised to 49.5%, by including

an additional 27% reservation for OBCs

Management quota

15 % seats in private colleges for the students who are decided by

the college management's own criteria.

Gender based Women get 33% reservation in gram panchayat (village assembly,

which is a form of local village government) and municipal

elections.

Equal pay


20/24

Religion based

The Tamil Nadu government has allotted 3.5% of seats each to

Muslims and Christians,

Andhra Pradesh administration has introduced a law enabling

4% reservations for Muslims (contested in court).

Religious minority status educational institutes also have 50%

reservation for their particular religions.

State of domiciles

With few exceptions, all jobs under state government are

reserved to those who are domiciles under that government.

In PEC Chandigarh, earlier 80% of seats were reserved for

Chandigarh domiciles and now it is 50%.



21/24


Other criteria

Sons/Daughters/Grandsons/Grand daughters of

Freedom Fighters. persons with disabilities:

3% of the vacancies in case of direct recruitment

to Group A, B, C & D posts and 3% of the

vacancies in case of promotion to Group D, andGroup C posts

Displaced Persons: One member from family


22/24

Does Diversity Enhance Organization

Performance?

YES!

Scott Page - Univ of Michigan- Mathematical Modeling determining

that accuracy = average accuracy + diversity

More types of people, more types of perspectives, better performance

NO!

Social Identity theory- people are drawn to those like themselves

Diversity is a problem as people do not work well across social

boundaries

Assumption ofPages model is that people will work well together and

share information- this is a flawed assumption


23/24

Indicators of Diversity Age

Caste

Race/Ethnicity

Religion

Gender

Disabilities

Marital/Family Status


24/24

Implication of Diversity

Dilution of selection process due to no or little formal

education

Problem for organisational job requirements

particularly in promotion & appraisal

Personality linked intra-group Tensions (Not Regional/

Communal)

Affirmative action for deprived class (e.g. EDI-CII)

Ethical issues

Merit

equal opportunity and law

Documents