If a wage is delayed, the employer must pay interest: HC

The Bombay High Court ruled that if an employee payment is late, the employer is required to pay a reasonable interest.

Whether the employee’s service agreement calls for the payment of interest is irrelevant, the division bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and C L Pangarkar said.

Yuvraj N. Rodye, the petitioner, has been employed by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board since 1975.

Royde was granted the right to receive wage arrears beginning in August 1975 in 1989.

But the payment was delayed for no apparent reason. He wasn’t instructed to pay his debts until September 1994.

He received the money, but he also asked for interest for the time that it took.

In India, businesses frequently fail to pay their workers their wages, particularly when they are letting them go. They believe that employees lack the means or options to bring a legal claim against their company. In actuality, there are a number of actions that an employee may take that could seriously jeopardise the employer. However, the information is not widely known and seeking legal counsel can be expensive.

An employee has a variety of legal options at their disposal to recoup compensation or earnings. The first action that we advise is sending a solid notice from a reliable attorney with experience with such cases. However, before we get into more detail about that, allow me to introduce you to some fundamental ideas in Indian labour laws that deal with the problems associated with unpaid wages or salaries.

Payment of Wages Act is a comprehensive salary payment law in India, but it does not apply to all levels of employees. Usually, it refers to low-paid blue caller employees.

Following a notification from the Indian Government, the wage ceiling under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 was raised to an average wage cap of INR 18,000 per month as of September 11, 2012. If this statute does not apply to you, you still have other legal options.