The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Wages Code Bill that will enable introduction of minimum wage for workers and dealing with issues like delay in payment to employees.

Terming The Code on Wages Bill, 2019 as a ‘historic step’, Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said this bill has consolidated and amended the laws relating to wages and bonus and matters connected therewith and will benefit 50 crore workers

The Bill, passed by voice vote, subsumes four labour laws -- Minimum Wages Act, Payment of Wages Act, Payment of Bonus Act and Equal Remuneration Act. After its enactment, all these four Acts would be repealed, said the Minister.

He said  while drafting the bill, the government has accepted  17 out of the 24 recommendations made by the Standing Committee which had scrutinised the similar bill introduced in the previous Lok Sabha.

As per the bill, the tripartite committee comprising representatives of trade unions, employers and state government would fix a floor wage for workers throughout the country, Gangwar said, adding minimum wage will become right of every worker.’

In addition to other things, the Bill will effectively address the problems relating to delay in payment of wages whether on monthly, weekly or daily basis, the Minister said. The code universalises the provisions of minimum wages and timely payment of wages to all employees irrespective of the sector and wage ceiling.

At present, the provisions of both Minimum Wages Act and Payment of Wages Act apply on workers below a particular wage ceiling working in Scheduled Employments only. The floor wage will be computed based on minimum living conditions, benefiting about 50 crore workers across the country.

At present, there are 12 definitions of wages in the different labour laws leading to litigation besides difficulty in its implementation.

The definition has been simplified in the Bill and is expected to reduce litigation and also reduce compliance cost for employers.