Govt to ensure better layoff package for lock outs: Labour Min

As it rolls out a slew of labour reforms, the government is proposing to amend laws to provide greater social security by tripling the compensation a laid off worker will get.
"If any factory is to be closed down, it is important to take care of the security of workers. I cannot save the industry then, but what I can do is see that the worker gets wages for 45 days. It was 15 days earlier. We are creating this window in the interest of workers when such a situation arises," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told PTI in an interview.

As part of labour reforms focused on making it easier for employers to fire workers, the government wants the notice period for establishments to lay off employees or shut down a unit be raised to three months from one month now. Also, retrenched workers will be paid an average salary of 45 days per year served, three times the current 15 day limit.
The changes would form part of the labour law reforms being contemplated by the government to protect the interest of workers and at the same time make them contemporary with a view to promote the ease of doing business.

"Many Acts were made 50 or 60 years ago. Trade Union Act was made in 1925. They need to be changed. Change means they have to be simplified. Enforcement (of laws) is important. We are trying to bring in changes to remove duplication and cumbersome processes," he said.
The minister said the changes will help a worker get wages for 45 days up from present 15 days in case of a lockout.