Amendment to Payment of Bonus

Amendment to Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 – Revision of wage calculation limit from Rs.3500/- p.m. to Rs.7000/- p.m. with effect from 01-04-2014 – Payment of P.L., Bonus to Railway employees at revised rate of Rs.7000/- p.m.

National Federation Of Indian Railwaymen
3, CHELMSFORD ROAD, NEW DELHI – 110 055
Affiliated to:
Indian National Trade Union congress (INTUC)
International Transport workers Federation (ITF)

No.I/10/Part IV

Dated: 07-03-2016

Shri Suresh Prabhu,
Hon’ble Minister for Railways
Rail Mantralaya
New Delhi.

Respected Sir,

Sub: Amendment to Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 – Revision of wage calculation limit from Rs.3500/- p.m. to Rs.7000/- p.m. with effect from 01-04-2014 – Payment of P.L., Bonus to Railway employees at revised rate of Rs.7000/- p.m. -reg.

Ref: Railway Board’s reply vide No.E(P&A)II-2014/PLB-8 dated 16-02-2016 to GS/NFIR.

while thanking the Railway Ministry for its prompt reply to NFIR under reference No.E(P&A)II-2014/PLB-8 dated 16-02-2016, the Federation re-iterates the following facts for taking appropriate steps by the Government.

(i) The chronological developments since decades need to be taken into account for processing the case for payment of PL Bonus to the Railway employees at the revised wage calculation ceiling limit i.e.Rs.7000/- p.m. w.e.f. 01-04-2014.

(ii) When the Bonus Act was amended, raising the wage calculation ceiling from Rs.750 to 1600, the Railway employees were paid PL Bonus at the revised wage calculation ceiling limit. subsequently, when the Bonus Act was amended, revising the wage calculation limit from Rs.1600/- to Rs.2500/-, the said rate was adopted by the Railway Ministry and PL Bonus paid to the Railway employees at the revised rates.

(iii) When the wage calculation ceiling was again revised to Rs.3500/- w.e.f. 1st April 2006, the Federation took up the issue and explained the merits of the case for adopting the rate of Rs.3500/- w.e.f. 01-04-2006 for ensuring payment of PL Bonus. The Railway Ministry had processed the case and obtained Union Cabinet’s approval and issued orders vide letter No.E(P&A)II-2008/PLB-10 dated 03-10-2008, duly revising the wage calculation ceiling to Rs.3500/- wit retrospective effect i.e. from 01-04-2006, consequently, PLB arrears for the year 2006-07 were paid to the Railway employees in October 2008.

From the above facts, it could be seen that the payment of P.L.Bonus has been ensured commensurating with the revision of wage calculation ceiling limit made through amendments to Bonus Act,1965 without any deviation. Similarly When the wage calculation ceiling limit has been raised to Rs.7000/- p.m., the Railway Employees are entitled for payment of P.L.Bonus at revised rates for the year 2014-15.

NFIR, therefore, requests the Hon’ble Railway Minister to kindly arrange to process the case on top priority for obtaining the approval of the Union Cabinet for making payment of PL Bonus arrears pertaining to the year 2014-15 to the Railway Employees at the earliest.

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-
(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)
General Secretary

Source: NFIR

BONUS 2015

Central Government approves hike in bonus ceiling from Rs. 3500 to Rs 7000

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet decided to double the wage ceiling for calculating bonus to Rs 7,000 per month for factory workers and establishments with 20 or more workers.

“The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to enhance the monthly bonus calculation ceiling to Rs 7,000 per month from existing Rs 3,500 was approved by Union Cabinet here,” a source said after the Cabinet meeting.

The amendment bill will be made effective from April 1, 2015. Now the bill will be tabled in Parliament for approval.

The bill also seeks to enhance the eligibility limit for payment of bonus from the salary or wage of an employee from Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 21,000.

The Payment of Bonus Act 1965 is applicable to every factory and other establishment in which 20 or more persons are employed on any day during an accounting year.

The bill also provides for a new proviso in Section 12 which empowers the central government to vary the basis of computing bonus.

At present, under Section 12, where the salary or wage of an employee exceeds Rs 3,500 per month, the minimum or maximum bonus payable to employees are calculated as if his salary or wage were Rs 3,500 per month.

The last amendment to both the eligibility limit and the calculation ceilings under the said Act was carried out in 2007 and was made effective from April 1, 2006.

This amendment in the Act to increase wage ceiling and bonus calculation ceiling was one of ssurances given by the Centre after 10 central trade unions went on one-day strike on September 2.

The government had hinted at meeting workers’ aspirations on nine out of 12 demands submitted by the unions

Bonus Orders 2015 : 78 Days Bonus for Railway Employees cleared by Cabinet today

Bonus Orders 2015 : 78 Days Bonus for Railway Employees cleared by Cabinet today

Bonus 2015 : Cabinet approved 78 Days for Railway Employees – PIB Report

Productivity Linked Bonus for Railway Employee

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Production Linked Bonus for Railway Employees.

As a result of the review of the scheme and approval of the Cabinet the salient features of the PLB scheme are as under: –

a) The output for a year is reckoned by the equated net tonne kilometres by adding together:-

i) total goods revenue net tonne kilometres.

ii) non-suburban passenger kilometres converted by a factor of 0.076.

iii) suburban passenger kilometres converted by a factor of 0.053.

b) The input is taken as the non-gazetted staff strength (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel), increased by the incremental increase/decrease in capital (over average of last three years) during the year. Incremental capital is confined to Rolling Stock utilised for movement of trains. The relative weights given are 0.50 for Tractive Effort, 0.20 for Wagon Capacity and 0.30 for Seating Capacity. The labour input i.e. non-gazetted staff strength is then increased to the extent of the percentage increase in the incremental capital 

Highest PLB amount of 78 days’ wages was paid for the financial years 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. This year also PLB equivalent to 78 days’ wages will be paid considering the good financial performance which is expected to motivate employees for working towards improving the same in future.

The financial implication of payment of 78 days’ PLB to railway employees has been estimated to be Rs. 1030.02 crore. The wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees is 3500/- p.m. The maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs. 8975 for 78 days.

About 12.58 lakh non-gazetted Railway employees are likely to benefit from the decision.

The Productivity Linked Bonus on Railway covers all non-gazetted railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel) who are spread over the entire country.

Background:

The Union Cabinet in its meeting held on October 2015 accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Railways for payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days’ wages for the financial year 2014-2015 for all eligible non-gazetted Railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel).

Source: PIB News