The Labour Department has issued guidelines for payment of bonus to employees in State-owned public sector undertakings (PSUs) for 2016-17, fixing the minimum bonus amount at 8.33% of the basic pay.
There is no major change in the bonus guidelines in terms of minimum bonus, but it has come much ahead of the Onam festival season and significantly enough covers loss-making units that receive government grant, budget allocation or capital contribution. All employees who draw a salary of up to ₹21,000 will be eligible for bonus at 8.33%. Those who draw more than ₹21,000 will be eligible only for festival allowance, the office of the Labour Commissioner said in an official statement here on Tuesday.
The bonus guidelines will be applicable only to public sector undertakings in which the State government has a majority holding. Units which began functioning during the last five years, including in 2016-17, will be required to pay bonus at the stipulated rates. Units which made profits during 2016-17 too will have to pay bonus according to the bonus Act. Public sector undertakings will have to get prior government sanction of payment of bonus above 20%.
The bonus order, issued by the Labour Commissioner, does not include workers in the cashew and coir sectors which are guided by the decisions of the respective industrial relations committees. Whatever be the classification, be it ex gratia, incentive or gift, the amount should be within the limits prescribed in the bonus guidelines.
The head of the public sector undertaking will be solely responsible for the implementation of the guidelines. In the event of any deviation from the guidelines, the matter should be placed before the government after getting it cleared by the director board of the respective undertaking at least 15 days before Onam.
The guidelines will be applicable to cooperative bodies which are in the productive sector. Bonus payments in other cooperatives will be guided by the special orders of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
All tripartite decisions taken in the presence of the Labour Minister, the respective Ministers and the PSUs will be placed before the Cabinet prior to implementation, the statement said. Any amount paid in violation of the guidelines will be recovered from the concerned officials, the statement said.
