Employment Rights Pakistan

THE MINIMUM WAGES ORDINANCE, 1961   The Minimum Wages Ordinance, 1961, is a significant piece of legislation in Pakistan that establishes a legal framework for setting and regulating minimum wage rates for various categories of workers and employees in the country. The primary objective of this ordinance is to ensure that workers receive fair compensation for their labor and to prevent the exploitation of labor through the establishment of minimum wage standards. An Ordinance to provide for the regulation of minimum rates of wages for workers employed in certain industrial undertakings. WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the regulation of minimum rates of wages for workers employed in certain indus­trial undertakings, and for matters ancillary thereto ; Now, therefore, in pursuance of the Proclamation of the seventh day of October, 1958, and in exercise of all powers en­abling him in that behalf, the President is pleased to make and promulgate the following Ordinance :—   Short title, extent and commencement. —(1) This Ordinance may be called the Minimum Wages Ordinance, 1961. (2) It extends to the whole of Pakistan. (3) It shall come into force at once.   Definition. In this Ordinance, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,— (1) “adult” has the same meaning as in clause (b) of section 2 of the Factories Act, 1934; (2) “Board” means a Minimum Wages Board established under section 3 ; (3) “Council” means the Minimum Wages Council cons­tituted under section 8 ; (4) “employer” means any person who employs either directly or through another person, whether on be­half of himself or any other person, any person for whom a minimum rate of wages may be declared under this Ordinance, and includes— (a) in relation to a factory, a managing agent or other person who has ultimate control over the affairs of the factory ; and (b) in other cases, any person responsible to the owner for supervision and control of such worker or for payment of his wages ; (5) “factory” means a factory as defined in clause (j) of section 2 of the Factories Act, 1934, and includes any place deemed to be a factory under sub-section (3) of section 5 thereof ; (6) “industry”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means an industry as defined in clause (g) of section 2 of the Industrial Disputes Ordinance, 1959, and includes a plantation as defined in clause (iii) of section 2 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; (7) “juvenile worker” means a worker who is not adult ; (8) “wages” means all remuneration capable of being ex­pressed in terms of money, which would, if the terms of contract of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable to a person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment, but does not include— (a) any contribution paid by the employer in respect of such person under any scheme of social in­surance or to a pension fund or provident fund ; (b) any travelling allowance or the value of any travel­ling concession ; (c) any sum paid to such person to defray special expenses incurred by him in respect of his em­ployment ; (d) any sum paid as annual bonus ; or (e) any gratuity payable on discharge ; and (9) “worker” means any person including an apprentice employed in any industry to do any skilled or unskill­ed, intellectual, technical, clerical, manual or other work, including domestic work, for hire or reward, but does not include— (i) persons employed by the Central Government or a Provincial Government ; (ii) persons employed in coal mines in respect of whom minimum wages may be fixed under the Coal Mines (Fixation of Rates of Wages) Ordinance, 1960; and (iii) persons employed in agriculture.   Establishment of Minimum Wages Boards. —(1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Ordinance, the Provincial Government shall establish a Mini­mum Wages Board for the Province consisting of the following four members to be appointed by it, namely :— (a) the Chairman of the Board ; (b) one independent member ; (c) one member to represent the employers of the Province ; and (d) one member to represent the workers of the Province : Provided that for the purpose of discharging the function of a Board specified in section 5 the following two more members appointed by the Provincial Government shall be added, namely:— (i) one member to represent the employers connected with the industry concerned ; and (ii) one member to represent the workers engaged in such industry. (2) The Chairman of the Board and the independent member shall be appointed from persons with adequate knowledge of industrial, labour and economic conditions of the Province who are not connected with any industry or associated with any em­ployers or workers organization. (3) The member to represent the employers of the Province and the member to represent the workers of the Province under sub-section (1) shall be appointed after considering nominations, if any, of such organizations as the Provincial Government con­siders to be representative organizations of such employers and workers respectively. (4) The members referred to in the proviso to sub-section (1) to represent the employers connected with and the workers engaged in the industry concerned shall be appointed after con­sidering nominations, if any, of such organizations as the Pro­vincial Government considers to be representative organizations of such employers and workers respectively. (5) The term of office of the members of the Board, the man­ner of filling casual vacancies therein, the appointment of its committees, if any, the procedure and conduct of the meetings of the Board and its committees and all matters connected there­with, including the fees and allowances to be paid for attending such meetings, and other expenses, including expenses for the services of experts and advisers obtained by the Board, shall be such as may be prescribed by rules made under section 17.   Recommendation of minimum rates of wages for unskilled and juvenile workers.