The Ministry of Labour recently introduced the Workmen’s Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 2009, in parliament. The bill seeks to amend the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 (WCA), by expanding its coverage, increasing the minimum compensation payable in the event of death or permanent disablement suffered by workers, giving greater power to the central government to make changes to the WCA and providing for speedy settlement of claims.
The bill proposes to replace the terms “workman” and “workmen” as presently used in the WCA with the terms “employee” and “employees”, presumably because the latter terms are gender neutral.
It also seeks to expand the coverage of the existing WCA by including persons employed in a clerical capacity in the hazardous industries listed in Schedule II. Currently, establishments in certain hazardous industries listed under Schedule II fall under the provisions of the WCA only if they employ a minimum number of workers; the bill seeks to remove this minimum threshold.
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The legislative and regulatory update is compiled by Nishith Desai Associates, a Mumbai-based law firm. The authors can be contacted at nishith@nishithdesai.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.
