The Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments National and Festival

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays) Act, 1958

Object of the Act The object of the Act as indicated by its preamble is to provide for the grant of National and Festival holidays to persons employed in industrial establishments in the State of Tamil Nadu. Applicability of the Act : The Act extends to the whole of the State of Tamil Nadu. It has come into force from the 1 st April of 1959. It applies to all the industrial establishments as defined under Section 2(e) of the Act. Industrial Establishment : What is ? According to Section 2(e) of the Act, ‘industrial establishment means’ – n any establishment as defined clause (6) of Section 2 of the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act - 1947, n any factory as defined in clause(m) of section 2 of the Factories Act – 1948 or n any place which is deemed to be a factory under sub-section (2) of Section 85 of the Factories Act – 1948. n Any plantation as defined in clause (f) of section 2 of the Plantations Labour Act – 1957, and n any other establishment which the Government may, by notification declare to be an industrial establishment for the purposes of the Act.

n n ‘Employee’ – Who is ? ‘Employee’ means any person (including an apprentice) employed in any industrial establishment to do any skilled or unskilled, manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be expressed or implied. Government is empowered to declare any other person employed in any industrial establishment to be an employee for the purposes of the Act. ‘Employer’ – Who is ? ‘Employer’ in relation to an industrial establishment means a person who has the ultimate control over the affairs of the industrial establishment. In the circumstances where the affairs of the industrial establishment are entrusted to any other person whether called as managing agent, manager, superintendent or by any other name, such other persons shall be ‘employer’ in the purposes of the Act.

‘Wages’ For the purposes of the Act ‘wages’ means all remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money which would become payable to the employee in respect of his employment or of the work done by him in such employment, if the terms of employment whether express or implied, were fulfilled. Grant of National and Festival Holiday : Every employee of an ‘industrial establishment’ shall be allowed in each calendar year a holiday of one whole day on n the 26 th January, n the 1 st May, n the 15 th August, and n the 2 nd October, and five other holidays each of one whole day for such festivals as specified by the Inspector under the Act in consultation with the employer and the employees.

Procedure for specification of festivals by the Inspector : n n n n The procedures for specification of festival holidays are laid down in Rule 3 of the Tamil Nadu Industrial establishments (National and Festival Holidays) Rules 1959. They are as follows : Every employer shall send his proposal for specification of festival in duplicate in Form-I along with a copy of notice in form-II to the inspector heaving jurisdiction over the area within 30 days from the date of commencement of work in this industrial establishment. The employer shall, simultaneously after sending the proposal to the Inspector, display in the premises of the industrial establishment the notice in Form No II intended to convey to the knowledge and notice of the employees the proposal sent to the inspector and specifying the period within which objections or suggestions of the employees shall be sent to the Inspector. Within 15 days of display of notice in Form-II, the employees of the trade unions representing the employees shall send objections or suggestions to the proposal of the employer, to the Inspector. The Inspector shall specify the festivals offer considering the proposal of the employer and the objections and suggestions if any, of the employees received within the specified period. The festivals specified by the Inspector shall be in Form No – III. The employer shall, within seven days of receipt of specification of festivals in Form-III exhibit a copy of it in a conspricuous place in the industrial establishment, in such manner as it can be readily seen and read by the employees.

Change of Festivals specified : n The employer or a majority of the employees or any trade union representing a substantial number of employees in any industrial establishment in respect of which festivals have been specified, may apply to the Inspector for a change in all or any of the festivals, at any time. n The application shall be sent in Form-IV in duplicate n The provisions of rule 3 shall mutatis mutandis apply to the change of festivals. n The change made by the Inspector in the specified festivals shall be communicated to the employer in Form No. III in duplicate. One copy shall be exhibited, within 7 days of receipt of communication, in the industrial establishment in such manner as can be readily been seen and read by the employees. n The change made in the festivals shall take effect from the 1 st day of the calendar year in which such

Statement to be sent to the Inspector Every employer shall send by registered. post to the Inspector a statement in Form – V showing the holidays allowed in each calendar year so as to reach the Inspector before the commencement of each calendar year in which the holidays are to be allowed. A legible copy of the said statement shall be exhibited simultaneously in the industrial establishment in such manner as can be readily seen and read by the employees. Wages for the holidays n n n The employees shall be paid wages for the National and Festival holidays. An employee irrespective his length of service is entitled to wages for the National holidays viz. , the 26 th January, the 1 st May, the 15 th august and the 2 nd October. In order to become entitled to wages for the festival holidays, an employee should have been in the service under the employer for a total period of 30 days within a continuous period of 90 days immediately preceding such holiday. In computing the period of 30 days of service, the weekly or any

Employment of Workers on Holidays : n n The right of the employees to avail holidays with wages is subject to the right of the employer to call upon the employees to come and work on such holidays. An employer, by giving or tendering a notice to the employees in Form – V A and after obtaining the signatures of the employees together with the date on which and the hour at which the notice is given, on a duplicate copy, call upon the employees to come and work on the specified holidays. The notice in Form V-A should be served on the employees and a copy thereof should be sent to the Inspector, not less than 24 hours before such holiday. Another copy of notice in Form VA duly served on the employees in the manner specified, shall be exhibited in the premises of the industrial establishment.

Option for extra wags or substituted holiday : An employee required to work on any holiday specified under section 3 has two options open to him, one of which he can choose. He can avail i) twice the wages or ii) wages for such holiday and to avail himself a substituted holiday with wages on one of the 3 days immediately before or after the day on which be works. Calculation of Twice the Wages : For the calculation of “twice the wages”, the daily average wages of an employee shall be first determined. The total wages earned by an employee during any period of 12 days in which the employee actually worked shall be divided by 12, and the resultant wages should be multiplied by 2 in order to determine twice the wages payable to the employee. This method of calculation of “twice the wages” is

Powers of Inspector: n The Inspector appointed under the Act, may within the local units for which he is appointed. n Enter at all reasonable times with such assistants, if any, who are persons in the service of the Government or of any local authority, any place which is or which he has reason to believe is an Industrial Establishment. n Make examination of the premises and of any prescribed registers, records and notices and take on the spot or otherwise, the evidence of such person as he may deem necessary for carrying out the purpose the Act. n Exercise such other powers as may be necessary for carrying out the purpose of the Act. n The Inspector however can not compel any body

Exemptions: The Provisions of the Act do not apply to the following Employee / Industrial Establishments. n n Employees in a position of Management. Employees whose work involve traveling. Any Industrial Establishment under the control of the central of any State Government, local authority, R. B. I. , a Railway Administration. Any mine or Oil field. Rights and privileges under other laws etc not affected If on the date of coming into force of this Act, any employee is entitled to rights and privileges under any other law, contract, and custom of usage which are more favourable to him than those under the Act, such right and privileges will not be affected.

Maintenance of Registers and Resorts: 1. A visit book for the purpose of recording any defects by the Inspector at the time of his visit should be maintained by the Employer. No separate visit book is necessary if the employer maintaining such a visit book with reference to Tamilnadu Shops and Establishment Act 1947 or the Factories Act 1948 or the Plantations Labour Act 1951. 2. A register in form VI with up to date entries shall be maintained by the employer by making the entry relating to any day on that day itself. However such a register is not necessary to be maintained if according to the Inspector having jurisdiction over the area, the particulars required to be kept in Form VI are contained in any other register.

Important Notifications: n In G. O. Ms. No. 397 Industries, Labour and co–operation (Labour) dated 28. 01. 1960 Government have declared all Beedi Industrial premises as defined under section 2(b) the Tamilnadu Beedi Industrial Premises( Regulation of Condition of Work) Act 1958 to be Industrial Establishments for the purpose of the Tamilnadu Industrial Establishments (Natioal and Festival Holidays) Act 1658. n In G. O. Ms No. 1833 Labour dated 19. 12. 1970 Government have declared all establishments wherein manufacturing process connected with the making of Beedi and Cigar both is being carried on with or without the aid of power and wherein 10 or more workers were working on the date of the notification or any day during the preceding 12 months, to be Industrial Establishments for the purposes of the Act. n In G. O. Ms No. 1550 Labour and Employment dated 06. 12. 1978 Government have declared such of those employments included in Part I of the schedule to the Minimum Wages Act 1948 and in respect of which the State Government under the said Minimum Wages Act 1948 and which are not exempted under section 10(1) of the Tamilnadu Industrial Establishments (National and Festival Holidays) Act 1958 to be the Industrial Establishment for the purpose of the Act. n In G. O. Ms No. 642 Industrial Labour Co-operation (Labour) dated 09. 02. 1960 the Government have exempted permanently the petrol / diesel pumps and storage depots for petrol and petroleum products from the provisions relating to giving options to the employees either to avail twice wages or substituted holiday with wages three days wages before or after the holiday in which he worked, so as to enable the employers to fix for an employee a substituted holiday on any other day.

In G. O. Ms. No. 1032 Labour and Employment dated 12. 11. 1990 permanent execution is granted to a) Doctor’s consulting rooms, b) Dispensaries attached to Doctor’s consulting rooms c) Nursing Homes, hospitals and other institutions for the treatment or case of sick, the infirm, the destitute or mentally unfit, from all the provisions of the Act subject to the conditions that 1) the total number of holidays including the four National holidays namely 26 th January, the 1 st may, the 15 th august and the 2 nd October shall not fall below 9 days in a calendar year, 2) the employees required to work on the holidays shall be paid wages as laid down under section 5 of the Act and 3) the employer should send Form-V to the inspector every year. Penalties : (1) Penalty for contravening the provisions of sec 3 ie grant of Nation Festival Holiday to employees and provision of sec 5 ie payment of wages for each holidays allowed to employee shall extend Rs. 25/- for first offence and extend to Rs. 250/- for second and subsequent offence. n

2. Penal Provision as per Rule 8 Penalty for contravention of Rule 3, 4, 5, 6 6 A, 7 Rule 3 getting specification of festival, n Rule 4 festival specifications or change of festival, n Rule 5 failure to send form 5, n Rule 6 calculation of daily average wages. n Rule 6 A serving of Form - 5 A, n Rule 7 maintenance of Registers and Records Penalty shall extend to Rs. 50/3. Compounding of offenses n The Section 8 A provides compounding powers either before after the Institution of Prosecution, to the Commissioner of Labour, or other officer as may be authorized by the Commissioner. No proceeding or further proceeding shall be taken against the offender, once the offence is compounded. If the offender is in custody shall be discharge forthwith.